IRLF 


S  ?  I  Ft 


in  "the 


PflRKER  BOYD 


GIFT   OF 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

IN 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF 
HARD  KNOCKS 


CONTAINING 


Announcements 

Pronouncements 

Colleges 

Courses  of  Study 

Teachers 

Honors 

Illustrious  Graduates 


BY 

THOMAS  PARKER  BOYD 

Author  of  "The  How  and  Why  of  the  Emmanuel  Movement," 

"The  Voice  Eternal,"  "Borderland  Experiences,  or  Do  the 

Dead  Return  ?"  "The  Finger  of  God,"  "The  Armor  of 

Light,"   "The  Catechism  of  Life,"   "Applied 

Psychology,"  "Temple  Talks,"  Etc.,  Etc. 

"THE  GOOD  MEDICINE  BOOKS,"  No.  3 


PUBLISHED  BY 

THOMAS  PARKER  BOYD 

8AN   FRANCISCO,  CALIFORNIA 


Copyright  1920 
Thomas  Parker  Boyd 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Announcement  v 

Pronouncement vii 

The  College  of  Science  1 

The  College  of  Arts  11 

The  College  of  Law  27 

The  College  of  History   39 

The  College  of  Anthropology    47 

The  College  of  Economics  53 

The  College  of  Psychology    61 

The  College  of  Philosophy  71 

The  College  of  Medicine  77 

The  College  of  Theology  83 

The  College  of  Mystics  and  Seers 117 

The  College  of  Paleontology  .....139 

The  College  of  Illustrious  Graduates 149 

417196 


[in] 


DEDICATION 

To  her  who  trusted  though  she  could  not  see, 

Bore  patiently  the  uneven-burdened  yoke, 
Suffered  all  things  without  murmuring, 

Learned  the  hard  lessons  of  life  smilingly, 
Holding  faithfully  and  firmly  the  soul  of  man, 

Waiting  awhile  genius  was  coming  to  bloom, 
Who  has  not  lived  but  ever  is  living, 

The  ideal  woman,  the  mother  of  men, 
The  woman  who  understands. 


PRESS*/ 

KNIGHT-  COUNIHAN 
PRINTING  Co. 


[iv] 


ANNOUNCEMENT 

THE  subject  matter  herein  has  been  preparing  for  a 
fetime.     The  title  of  the  book  was  announced 
some  seven  years  ago  after  many  years  of  lecturing 
on  the  subject.     The  manuscript  was  finished  some  five 
years  ago. 

When  just  ready  to  proceed  with  its  publication,  the 
author  had  a  new  lesson  in  the  University  of  Hard 
Knocks.  He  was  arrested  by  the  State  Medical  Board 
for  some  supposed  violation  of  the  prerogatives  of  the 
doctors.  The  offense  really  consisted  in  laying  hands  on 
men  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  saying  to  them,  "Thy 
sins  be  forgiven  thee;  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  rise  up 
and  walk,"  or  the  practice  of  religion.  The  defense 
turned  upon  the  fact  that  his  right  to  heal  men  antedated 
all  doctors,  all  remedies,  and  all  legal  enactment,  being 
nothing  less  than  the  authority  of  Him  who  healed  by 
the  Finger  of  God. 

The  verdict  reached  in  the  Superior  Court  of  the  State 
of  California  was  a  complete  vindication  on  all  the  items 
of  the  statute. 

The  expense  of  this  legal  battle  has  held  up  this  book 
for  four  years.  In  the  meantime  another  book  by  another 
author  under  the  same  title  has  been  published,  so  that  it 
has  been  necessary  to  change  the  original  title  and  make 
it  merely  a  sub-title.  This  is  well,  for  the  book  is  more 

[T] 


ANNOUNCEMENT 

of  a  prospectus  than  it  is  a  university.  It  took  me  some 
years  to  see  that  fact.  I  accept  it  cheerfully  as  the  new 
lesson  I  learned  through  the  delay. 

All  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
God,  and  we  learn  to  bless  the  "All  Things." 

One  or  two  notes  have  been  added   to  the  original 
manuscript. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


[vi] 


PRONOUNCEMENT 

LIFE  begins  with  a  question  mark ;  it  should  end  with 
an  exclamation  point.  Our  business  here  is  to 
know  the  facts  of  life,  to  accept  them  as  such,  to 
interpret  life's  meaning  by  the  facts,  and  to  adjust  our 
thinking  and  living  to  that  meaning.  In  this  way  the 
whole  field  of  knowledge  is  opened  up.  Out  of  this 
search  after  knowledge  there  are  developed  certain  final 
statements  of  truth  which  are  inclusive  and  conclusive,  if 
not,  indeed,  self-evident,  and  which  are  called  categories. 

The  first  of  these  is  Being,  embracing  all  that  we  know 
or  may  know  of  life,  of  substance,  spiritual  or  material. 

The  second  one  is  Reality,  embracing  the  truth  in  the 
unconditioned  Absolute,  and  the  relative. 

The  third  category  is  that  of  Quantity,  which  includes 
the  truth  of  unity,  plurality  and  totality. 

The  fourth  one  is  the  category  of  Quality,  having 
reference  to  reality,  negation,  and  limitation. 

The  fifth  one  is  Relation,  embracing  substance  and 
attribute,  cause  and  effect,  action  and  reaction. 

The  sixth  one  is  Modality,  embracing  possibility,  actu- 
ality, and  necessity. 

These  are  more  or  less  adaptations  of  the  famous  cate- 
gories of  Aristotle  and  Kant,  and  in  the  study  of  life  in 
the  light  of  them  there  is  accepted  the  categorical  imper- 
ative for  all  life,  which  is,  the  absolute  claim  of  moral 

[vii] 


PRONOUNCEMENT 

law  to  our  obedience,  the  legal  supremacy  of  the  right  as 
disclosed  by  scientific  knowledge  and  as  asserted  by  con- 
science or  the  moral  sense,  over  human  life. 

These  categories  have  not  been  followed  in  any  formal 
way,  but  the  studious  reader  will  detect  that  they  have 
always  been  kept  in  view  while  blazing  the  trail  in  a 
wilderness  of  opinions  where  so  many  have  pioneered,  and 
few  have  left  any  helpful  landmarks. 

The  intention  in  this  volume  is  to  interpret  life  accord- 
ing to  scientific  principles,  and  to  present  obligation  from 
the  standpoint  of  a  rational  philosophy,  and  to  outline  a 
conception  of  God,  and  formulate  a  destiny  of  humanity 
based  upon  the  findings  of  science  and  philosophy  in  their 
dealings  with  human  experience,  rather  than  upon  the 
traditions  of  the  past.  To  be  sure  no  thought  enters  of 
disregarding  or  discrediting  these  traditions  when  they 
have  any  content  of  proven  value,  but  to  use  them  as  side 
lights  on  the  main  scheme  of  interpreting  life. 

Only  one  phase  of  life  is  here  sought  to  be  explained. 
It  is:  if  there  is  a  God,  why  does  trouble  in  its  many 
forms  loom  so  large?  And  the  very  inadequacy  of  the 
answers  to  this  question  has  made  many  despair  of  finding 
a  suitable  answer.  Now,  to  the  thoughtful  man  the 
origin,  the  course,  and  the  end  of  trouble  resolves  itself 
into  a  ministry  whose  outcome  is  beneficent.  To  him  who 
ponders  long  the  course  of  human  development  the  furnace 
of  trouble  has  played  a  mighty  part  in  the  world's  evolu- 
tion; from  chaos  up  to  form,  order,  beauty  and  fruitage, 
from  animalism,  to  savagery,  to  barbarism,  and  finally  up 


PRONOUNCEMENT 

to  civilization.  It  has  been  the  one  chief  means  of 
extracting  the  clinkers  and  slag  out  of  human  nature. 

The  scientific  observer  beholds  the  sparkle  of  saintliness 
brought  out  of  some  diamond  in  the  rough  by  the  fast- 
flying  emery  wheel  of  trouble.  He  sees  pig  iron  carried 
up  to  finely-tempered  spring  steel  by  heat,  chemical  action 
and  heavy  hammering.  He  beholds  the  entire  universe 
which  in  its  last  analysis  is  one  spiritual  substance,  ad- 
justed in  a  mechanical  way,  and  in  it  the  fundamental  law 
that  in  the  raising  of  lower  forms  of  energy  up  to  higher 
expression,  there  is  heat  and  stress  and  eons  of  time  in  the 
process  of  reaching  the  stage  of  soil  and  fruitage,  and  that 
this  process  in  the  material  world  corresponds  to  the  action 
of  pain  and  trouble  in  carrying  human  nature  upward 
from  animalism  to  God-likeness. 

He  discovers  that  all  things  in  this  universe  are  incor- 
porated into  a  University  of  Hard  Knocks,  into  which 
we  are  matriculated  at  birth.  There  is  no  correspondence 
course;  there  are  no  proxies;  attendance  is  compulsory. 
We  all  begin  as  pupils  and  end  some  time  and  somewhere 
as  masters.  The  course  is  adapted  to  the  pupil.  Just 
how  he  will  have  his  trouble  depends  upon  his  heredity, 
his  environment,  his  temperament,  and  other  facts  which 
give  a  personal  bias.  One  takes  his  schooling  in  one 
allopathic  knock-down  dose  of  calamity,  while  another 
gets  his  in  little  homeopathic  pellets  of  annoyance.  We 
may  not  always  choose  how  we  will  have  the  lessons, — 
they  seem  to  be  automatically  adjusted  to  us, —  but  we 

[ix] 


PRONOUNCEMENT 

may  choose  how  well  we  learn  them,  and,  therefore,  how 
soon  we  may  graduate. 

It  is  just  possible  that  we  may,  as  many  have  done, 
suggest  improvements  in  the  course  of  instruction  to  the 
Absolute  Wisdom,  our  teacher,  only  to  find  that  He 
retires  into  "ways  that  are  not  our  ways,  and  thoughts 
that  are  not  our  thoughts." 

Sometimes  we  throw  down  our  books  and  quit  school 
over  night,  but  in  the  morning  we  find  the  tutors  of  pain 
and  trouble  are  not  discharged,  and  that  school  keeps 
right  on. 

Every  day  the  angel  of  the  morning  turns  a  new  page 
in  the  great  book  of  life,  and  we  find  a  new  set  of  words 
to  learn.  One  day  we  spell  out  "joy,"  and  the  next  day 
we  wonder  why  the  lost  baby's  curl  is  lusterless  with 
"grief."  One  day  we  learn  to  spell  "love,"  and  too  often 
we  next  learn  "disappointment."  One  day  we  spell  out 
"happiness"  as  we  read  the  names  on  the  marriage  license, 
and  another  day  we  read  through  dimmed  eyes  the  word 
"sorrow"  on  the  tombstone.  One  day  we  spell  out 
"wealth" ;  the  next  day  we  meet  the  hatchet-faced  teacher, 
"want."  Day  by  day  we  add  new  words  to  our  vocabu- 
lary. They  all  come  in  the  course  of  study.  Some  of 
them  we  have  learned  over  and  over  again,  until  they  are 
our  very  own.  Often  we  rebel  and  feel  like  quitting 
school,  only  to  find  that  we  cannot  quit  until  we  have  at 
least  learned  to  take  good  and  bad  with  equal  good  grace. 

Often  we  worry  about  the  words  we  expect  to  find  in 
tomorrow's  lesson,  and  when  the  morrow  comes  the  words 


[x] 


PRONOUNCEMENT 

that  gave  us  troubled  thoughts  and  dreams  are  not  on  the 
page  at  all,  but  new  and  strange  ones.  When  will  we 
learn  that  "sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  spelling  lesson 
thereof"?  We  would  go  to  school  with  a  merrier  whistle 
and  come  home  to  a  sweeter  rest  if  we  were  content  to 
learn  the  lesson  of  today. 

It  is  said  that  a  priest  passing  through  a  woodland  saw 
an  ignorant  boy  kneel  as  if  in  prayer,  and,  drawing  near, 
heard  him  repeating  the  alphabet.  He  rebuked  the  boy 
by  saying,  "This  is  no  way  to  pray,"  to  which  the  boy 
answered, 

"I  say  my  letters  on  my  knees; 
He  makes  the  words  Himself  to  please." 

And,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  boy  was  right,  for  as 
life  proceeds  we  learn  at  length  that  some  great,  loving, 
wise  purpose  lies  back  of  all  our  experience,  directs  our 
schooling  without  any  hard  and  fast  rules,  and  interprets 
our  thoughts  and  actions  according  to  their  spirit,  rather 
than  their  form. 

This  course  is  personally  conducted.  It  is  yours  while 
you  are  taking  it,  and  the  results  will  be  yours  when  you 
are  promoted. 

You  begin  as  a  pupil,  you  develop  into  a  student,  you 
are  promoted  to  a  teacher,  and  you  unfold  into  a  master. 

It  matters  not  whether  you  finish  the  course  in  this 
world  or  in  some  other  world.  Having  entered,  there  is 
no  discharge  until  you  finish  the  course. 

[xi] 


PRONOUNCEMENT 

The  illustrious  ones  of  every  age  are  those  who,  with- 
out shrinking,  have  taken  good  and  bad  alike  with  full 
understanding  of  their  purpose  and  results,  and  have 
passed  upward  into  cosmic  or  divine  consciousness. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  SCIENCE 

NATURAL  AND  OTHERWISE 

IT  is  the  function  of  science  to  discover,  describe  and 
register  facts  with  regard  to  the  ways  of  being  and  of 
happening.  It  finds  events  occurring  in  a  certain  way 
and  formulates  the  hypothesis  that  all  similar  facts  occur 
in  that  way,  and  this  hypothesis  becomes  known  as  a  law 
because  it  explains  that  class  of  occurrences.  Following 
this  method,  science  furnishes  us  with  the  great  hypoth- 
eses of  gravitation,  the  undulatory  theory  of  light,  the 
electronic  theory  of  physics,  the  nebular  hypothesis,  evolu- 
tion, etc.  Because  these  theories  of  operation  were  the 
best  methods  of  explaining  the  facts  in  a  given  series  of 
happenings,  they  were  accepted  as  the  law  of  procedure  in 
their  respective  realms  of  activity.  In  like  manner  a 
knowledge  of  the  laws  governing  mind,  morals  and  con- 
duct have  been  evolved  through  a  more  or  less  scientific 
observation  of  the  effects  of  various  methods  of  directing 
mental  and  moral  action  for  the  welfare  of  the  individual 
and  society. 

Science,  concerning  itself  with  matter  and  material 
happenings,  gathers  a  mass  of  facts,  classifies  them  and 
ascertains  their  method  of  happening.  Out  of  this  scien- 
tific study  have  arisen  certain  axioms  or  self-evident  truths 
of  science,  which  are  valuable,  such  as,  "Out  of  nothing, 
nothing  comes";  "There  is  a  cause  for  every  effect"; 
"Nothing  just  happens."  The  laws  of  matter  apply  to 
all  material  things,  no  matter  in  what  form  they  exist. 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

The  law  of  gravitation  acts  on  the  human  body  just  as 
it  does  on  a  piece  of  iron,  and  no  amount  of  thinking  can 
suspend  the  law  of  gravitation. 

The  materials  for  nutrition  and  methods  of  metabol- 
ism, or  change,  are  similar  in  all  living  forms.  Oxygen 
alone  and  in  combination  with  other  chemicals  is  indis- 
pensable to  all  material  life.  Water  is  a  large  element  in 
all  living  bodies.  Under  the  law  of  the  conservation  of 
energy  the  form  of  these  factors  in  body-building  may 
change,  but  the  substance  must  be  present.  Literally, 
"No  man  by  merely  taking  thought  can  add  a  cubit  to  his 
stature."  Pure  thinking  can  no  more  build  the  body 
without  material  substances  than  can  feeding  the  body 
give  it  trained  mentality  without  mental  activity  in 
thought  materials.  Elijah  hungry  was  a  deserter  from 
duty,  but  twelve  solid  hours  of  sleep  and  two  square 
meals  made  him  again  the  lion-hearted  prophet.  Science 
determines  that  the  body  must  have  a  certain  percentage 
of  proteins,  fats  and  carbo-hydrates,  together  with  water 
and  minerals,  and  for  these  there  is  no  mental  or  spiritual 
substitute. 

Science  determines  that  the  mental  powers  develop 
through  contact  with  the  material  world,  acting  upon  it 
and  being  reacted  upon  by  it.  Furthermore,  that  the 
brain,  the  instrument  of  mental  activity  and  power, 
reaches  its  maximum  weight  about  the  age  of  forty,  and 
begins  to  decline  both  in  weight  and  efficiency,  unless 
kept  constantly  active  by  feeding  on  new  truths,  wrestling 
with  new  problems,  and  seeking  new  achievement,  in 

[2] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  SCIENCE 

which  case  it  constantly  increases  in  power.  For  mental 
drill  and  exercise  in  the  realm  of  truth  and  fact  there  is 
no  material  nor  spiritual  substitute.  There  is  a  law  of 
the  mind,  just  as  there  is  a  law  of  the  members. 

Science  determines  that  the  development  of  the  spiritual 
life,  while  largely  influenced  by  the  condition  of  the  body, 
through  the  nervous  system  and  by  the  mind  in  their 
contacts  with  the  world  of  material  things,  cannot  depend 
on  either  material  or  mental  things  for  its  sustenance,  but 
must  find  its  pabulum  in  a  realm  of  purely  spiritual  sub- 
stance and  be  sustained  by  intercourse  and  communion 
with  an  ultimate  Spiritual  Being. 

Beyond  the  study  of  such  exercises  and  their  effects 
science  has  made  no  explicit  pronouncement  in  the  realm 
of  spirit  as  to  its  essence.  Howbeit  the  spiritual  activities 
and  their  effects  warrant  a  cause,  just  as  movements  and 
effects  elsewhere  vouchsafe  a  cause. 

The  ideas  of  God,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the 
rational  exercise  of  prayer,  the  effects  of  faith,  hope  and 
love  in  producing  character,  all  stand  upon  the  same 
logical  base  as  do  the  theories  of  gravitation,  evolution 
and  other  great  doctrines  of  science.  Their  fundamental 
principles  are  identical,  and  their  manner  of  proof  is 
similar.  They  best  explain  the  facts  with  which  they 
have  to  do. 

The  method  of  science  in  material  things  is  one  of 
exactness  by  weight  and  measure.  It  has  the  facts  in 
hand.  In  studying  the  mind  it  has  to  do  with  mental 
action  and  the  results  that  are  left  behind  as  the  mind 

[3] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

goes  out  from  the  self  as  a  center.  In  spiritual  things  it 
has  to  depend  upon  secondary  evidences,  as,  for  example, 
faith  produces  peace  and  content,  and  these  are  deter- 
mined and  reported  by  the  actions  and  experiences  of 
those  who  exercise  and  enjoy  them. 

A  difficulty  common  to  scientific  study  of  mental  and 
spiritual  activities  is  found  in  the  fact  that  no  two  people 
are  affected  mentally  or  emotionally  in  exactly  the  same 
way  by  the  same  stimulus;  that  is,  they  do  not  see  nor 
feel  exactly  alike.  Furthermore,  the  reliability  of  their 
states  and  experiences  is  not  always  dependable,  especially 
their  reports  of  them,  and  their  explanationsof  their  causes. 
And  finally,  the  difficulty  of  reproducing  their  experiences 
makes  it  necessary  for  science  to  generalize  by  studying 
the  spiritual  activities  of  the  race  at  large.  No  individual 
experience  can  be  taken  as  a  criterion. 

Science  still  further  dealing  with  the  facts  of  spiritual 
life  discovers  occurrences  and  experiences  which  lie  outside 
the  methods  of  material  activity.  It  discovers  the  ego,  or 
self,  entering  into  experiences  and  having  perceptions  of 
activity  which  do  not  come  within  the  range  of  the  five 
senses,  nor  in  the  realm  of  three-dimensional  activity.  It, 
therefore,  posits  as  a  result  of  these  facts  a  fourth  dimen- 
sion as  a  possible  field  of  activity  and  experience,  such  as 
was  used  by  Jesus  when  He  sent  His  vibrations  across  the 
spaces  for  healing  the  nobleman's  son.  It  likewise  posits 
a  sixth  sense  or  universal  power  of  perception  as  was 
manifested  in  Elisha,  the  prophet,  who  at  Dothan  saw 
the  hosts  of  limitless  power  on  his  side  ready  to  help,  and 

[4] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  SCIENCE 

in  Jesus  when  He  saw  Nathaniel  around  a  material  corner. 

Science  recognizes  from  tabulated  facts  that  there  arises 
from  such  spiritual  activity  an  intangible  but  very  real 
thing  called  character.  It  likewise  recognizes  that  char- 
acter itself  can  be  graded  and  classified,  and  that  there  is  a 
certain  affinity  or  spiritual  gravitation  by  which  every 
individual  form  of  life  eventually  finds  its  own  level  and 
every  human  being  comes  or  goes  to  his  own  place. 

Science  applying  the  law  of  the  conservation  of  energy 
recognizes  that  all  seen  things  have  come  out  of  the  un- 
seen, and  that  all  seen  things  may  be  resolved  back  again 
into  the  unseen.  Inasmuch,  therefore,  as  the  unseen  is 
the  source  and  goal,  it  follows  that  all  life  and  all  that 
pertains  to  life  are  constantly  maintained  by  supplies  from 
the  unseen,  which  are  ministered  through  the  channels  of 
activity,  called  laws. 

Science  reaches  the  dignity  of  Divine  Science,  therefore, 
when  by  using  the  scientific  method  all  things  are  observed 
to  proceed  from  a  first  great  Spiritual  Cause,  whose 
methods  of  operation  are  uniform,  and  whose  effects  are 
unfailing.  Furthermore,  that  the  most  potent  agencies 
are  those  nearest  the  purely  spiritual,  those  that  are  called 
mental  taking  their  place  lower  down  in  the  scale,  while 
material  forms  of  energy  are  still  less  refined.  Neverthe- 
less, they  are  divine  energies,  adapted  to  use  in  their 
respective  realms,  as  in  Ezekiel  47:  12  it  is  said,  "the 
fruit  thereof  shall  be  for  meat,  and  the  leaf  thereof  for 
medicine." 

Applying  the  methods  of   science   to  the  problem   of 

[5] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

health,  studying  the  incidents  and  experiences  in  the 
careers  of  the  great  healers  of  all  time,  there  are  inducible 
certain  general  principles.  The  first  one  is  that  all  dis- 
ease comes  from  the  violation  of  law,  technically  called 
sin,  and  that  all  healing,  technically  called  righteousness 
or  wholeness,  comes  by  a  return  to  keeping  the  law. 
Science  in  its  discrimination  finds  many  diseases  and  ills 
of  character  purely  material  in  their  origin,  such  as 
wounds  and  fractures  and  lesions  and  germ-infections  and 
auto-intoxications  and  abnormal  forms  of  cell  growth, 
which  are  in  some  way  violations  of  material  law,  whose 
cure  must  be  brought  about  by  faithful  obedience  to  the 
law  which  has  been  broken  and  through  the  use  of  mate- 
rial agencies,  with  a  recognized  specific  action. 

It  further  recognizes  a  large  class  of  the  ills  of  life 
which  arise  from  wrong  habits  of  thinking,  or  violations 
of  the  mental  laws,  whose  cure  must  be  brought  about  by 
re-education  of  the  mind  in  the  proper  methods  and  habits 
of  thought. 

It  likewise  finds  many  ills  and  afflictions,  both  of  mind 
and  body,  growing  out  of  the  violation  of  moral  ,and 
spiritual  laws  whose  cure  must  logically  depend  upon  the 
sufferer  being  restored  to  harmony  with  the  sources  of 
moral  and  spiritual  power  and  life.  The  principle,  there- 
fore, of  all  these  classes  of  ills  arising  out  of  violation  of 
the  law  and  their  cure  being  involved  in  keeping  the  law, 
is  included  in  a  wide  application  of  a  sentence  from  the 
lips  of  the  great  Healer  Himself,  "Thy  sins  be  forgiven 
thee," — a  statement  which  invariably  attended  or  was 

[6] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  SCIENCE 

included  and  understood  in  the  injunction,  "Be  thou  made 
whole."  And  so  far-reaching  was  this  truth  that  the 
Master  Healer  of  the  Ages  made  it  apply  to  every 
form  of  ill. 

Again,  facts  gathered  and  classified  by  scientific  method 
disclose  the  common  method  of  all  healers,  to  actively 
demand,  or  to  implicitly  depend  upon  the  faith  of  the 
individual  who  sought  healing,  or  the  faith  of  his  friends, 
and  without  this  faith  even  the  Master  Himself  "could 
do  no  mighty  works." 

The  same  scientific  analysis  of  healing  discloses  that 
the  faith  itself  was  merely  an  instrument  in  the  healing. 
It  was  necessary  that  the  patient  exercise  implicit  faith, 
regardless  of  whether  the  things  which  he  believed  were 
true  or  the  person  in  whom  he  trusted  were  genuine,  the 
faith  being  a  means  of  arousing  within  the  patient  himself 
forces  which,  operating  through  the  channels  or  laws  of 
health,  restored  the  sick  one.  The  same  analysis  of  the 
methods  of  the  healers  reveals  a  spiritual  quality  in  the 
healer  and  in  the  patient,  which  proceeded  from  some 
unseen  but  limitless  reservoir  of  health  and  power. 

Furthermore,  in  the  experiences  of  some  mighty  prac- 
titioners of  healing,  such  as  Elijah  and  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
the  element  of  physical  contact  and  the  use  of  material 
agencies  were  frequently  relied  upon.  Elijah  used  the 
working  principle  of  the  modern  scientific  pulmotor  for 
setJj&lg  up  artificial  respiration,  while  Jesus  touched  the 
blind  eyes,  the  deaf  ears,  the  paralyzed  body,  put  spittle 
upon  the  tongue,  and  in  one  case  anointed  the  blind  man's 

[7] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

eyes  with  clay,  which  by  the  time  he  had  traveled  to  the 
pool  of  Siloam  and  scrubbed  off  this  sticky  ointment,  had 
by  manipulation  thoroughly  stimulated  the  circulation 
and  nervous  activity  in  his  eyes,  in  addition  to  arousing 
his  faith  and  expectation.  The  same  practice  of  material 
contacts  is  observed  in  the  experiences  of  St.  Paul,  St. 
Peter  and  St.  James. 

Similar  scientific  analysis  discloses  the  fact  of  healing 
vibrations  being  sent  to  a  distance  without  the  use  of 
oral  word  or  direct  contact  between  the  healer  and  the 
patient,  as  was  seen  in  the  healing  of  the  nobleman's  son 
and  the  centurion's  servant. 

The  scientific  deduction  from  these  facts  is,  therefore, 
that  in  many  cases  of  purely  physical  ill,  the  use  of  mate- 
rial agencies  alone  is  sufficient  to  set  in  operation  the 
healing  forces  which  work  through  physical  law.  That 
right  thinking,  established  in  many  mental  disorders,  will 
restore  the  sufferer  to  normal  mental  balance  and  experi- 
ence. And  that  the  restoration  of  harmony  with  the 
spiritual  source  of  life — the  Infinite  God — will  produce 
health  in  a  large  majority  of  cases  having  their  rise  in 
spiritual  inharmony,  restore  the  sufferer  to  wholeness, 
while  in  other  cases  the  combining  of  two  or  all  of  these 
classified  forces  will  prove  effective  where  a  single  one 
might  fail.  And  from  these  there  follows  the  final  deduc- 
tion that  whatever  agencies  may  be  used  their  source  may 
be  traced  to  that  region  of  unspoilable  health  from  which 
One  spoke  and  said,  "I  am  the  Lord  that  healeth  thee." 

In   its  last  scientific   analysis,   therefore,   health   is   a 

[8] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  SCIENCE 

spiritual  thing,  the  result  of  spiritual  forces  having  their 
source  in  the  Absolute  and  operating  through  every  agency 
in  which  is  embodied  the  energy  of  the  great  "I  Am." 

In  like  manner  there  may  be  deduced  the  truth  that 
every  good  for  man,  whether  it  be  peace,  harmony,  power 
or  abundance,  is  found  to  rise  out  of  man's  relationship 
to  the  invisible  and  spiritual  reality,  and  it  does  come  into 
manifestation  in  accordance  with  the  measure  of  his  con- 
scious realization  of  that  fact. 

If  knowledge  of  the  truth  gives  man  such  wonderful 
privilege,  then  it  also  follows  that  the  only  limitation  he 
can  have  is  that  imposed  by  ignorance  of  the  truth.  And 
the  supreme  test  of  scientific  method  is  that  belief  does 
not  make  anything  true.  We  can  only  know  that  which 
we  have  put  to  the  test.  And  the  only  way  to  graduation 
in  the  U.  H.  K.  is  to  know  things  by  proving  them. 

We  are  steadily  moving  back  toward  the  power  house. 
We  are  still  waiting  for  the  master  who  shall  give  us  the 
formula  by  which  the  atom  shall  be  unlocked  and  its  vast 
power  set  free  to  take  the  place  of  our  clumsy  efforts  at 
power  through  the  use  of  the  fast  diminishing  stores  of 
coal  and  oil. 

Likewise  the  whole  world  is  waiting  the  Newton  who 
shall  write  the  Principia  of  the  Spiritual  Life,  giving  us 
its  powers,  principles  and  laws  so  that  the  spoken  word  of 
truth  shall  become  the  living  word  of  the  Christ  with  its 
miracle-working  power  that  shall  banish  the  physical 
miseries  of  mankind  by  the  finger  of  God,  and  make  men 
whole  through  spiritual  realization.  And  the  day  is  at 
hand — is  at  the  door — the  glory  of  its  dawn  is  upon  us. 

[9] 


MY  WAGE 

I  bargained  with  Life  for  a  penny, 

And  Life  would  pay  no  more, 
However  I  begged  at  evening, 

When  I  counted  my  scanty  store. 

For  Life  is  a  just  employer, 

He  gives  us  what  we  ask. 
But  once  we  have  set  the  wages, 

Why,  we  must  bear  the  task. 

I  worked  for  a  menial's  hire, 

Only  to  learn  dismayed, 
That  any  wage,  I  had  asked  of  Life, 

Life  would  have  gladly  paid. 

— Jessie  B.  Rittenhouse 


[10] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  ARTS 

THE  arts  are  both  liberal  and  otherwise.  The  liberal 
art    is    a    skillful    adaptation    and    application    of 
means  to  an  end.     In  substance,  it  is  a  system  of 
rules  and  methods  to  facilitate  the  performance  of  certain 
actions.    Applying  the  term  liberal  in  its  largest  sense  to 
art,  the  way  is  open  for  the  continual  readjustment  of 
rules  to  meet  new  conditions  as  they  arise  in  a  given 
realm. 

Among  the  liberal  arts  which  open  the  field  of  scientific 
achievement  for  spiritual  interpretation  and  application  to 
the  Fine  Art  of  Being  Well,  Happy  and  Prosperous,  there 
are  seven. 

GRAMMAR 

The  first  one  is  grammar,  carrying  the  thought  of 
powerful  expression  through  words.  The  grammar  of 
the  Absolute  Life  has  one  tense, — the  present,  expressing 
itself  as  "i  AM  THAT  i  AM."  In  human  life  it  has  three, — 
the  future,  the  present,  and  the  past. 

The  working  method  of  the  tenses  of  the  spiritual  life 
is  seen  in  the  words,  "Thus  saith  the  Lord :  It  shall  come 
to  pass."  This  future  is  followed  by  a  conditioned  present 
in  which  certain  things  were  done  as  prescribed,  and  the 
record  of  the  past  reads,  "And  it  came  to  pass." 

The  grammar  of  the  spiritual  life  rises  to  the  dignity 
of  a  fine  art  when  its  rules  and  expressions  get  past  the 

[in 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

text-book  stage,  and  are  embodied  into  the  form  of  the 
personal  pronoun,  I  am;  I  can;  I  will,  thus  rising  from 
principles  and  formulas  to  the  Personality  of  God  in  man. 

All  of  the  moods,  potential  and  otherwise,  reach  their 
highest  expression  in  the  indicative, — I  am;  I  can;  I  do; 
I  love;  I  believe,  etc.;  and,  in  the  imperative, — "Go  thy 
way";  "Be  thou  made  whole";  "Take  up  thy  bed  and 
walk." 

The  grammar  of  the  spiritual  life  is  imperfect  because 
it  has  no  term  for  third  personality  without  a  gender 
coloring.  Its  pronouns  have  no  neuters.  They  are  I, 
thou,  thee;  hence,  God  and  the  angels  are  all  represented 
as  masculine,  but  the  grammar  of  the  spiritual  life  knows 
that  "there  is  neither  male  nor  female,"  nor  any  other 
sign  of  division  or  incompleteness  in  the  spiritual  realm. 
"He  that  doeth  the  will  of  My  Father,  the  same  is  My 
brother,  My  sister,  My  mother." 

Words  are  the  incarnation  of  ideas.  They  bring  us  in 
sight  of  the  Creative  Word  that  was  "with  God  in  the 
beginning."  For  the  creative  process  is,  that  God  thought 
and  called  by  name  that  which  He  thought,  and  He 
became  that  which  He  thought,  and  it  was  Good.  He 
spake  and  it  was  done,  he  commanded  and  it  stood  fast, 
He  sent  His  word  and  healed  them.  "Go  thy  way,  thy 
son  liveth."  "With  great  power  gave  they  witness  and 
great  grace  was  on  them."  Now  it  is  given  man  to  speak 
the  creative  word  if  he  will  learn  the  grammar  of  the 
spiritual  life.  Then  whatsoever  he  shall  bind  on  earth 
shall  be  bound  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever  he  shall  loose 

[12] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  ARTS 

on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven.  This  is  another  way 
of  saying  that  he  shall  have  authority  over  all  things.  He 
must  also  know  that  the  spirit  has  a  new  language  for 
each  new  unfoldment  of  the  truth.  In  the  grammar  of 
the  spiritual  life  there  is  a  new  name  which  none  but 
himself  knoweth. 

RHETORIC 

This  is  art  with  reference  to  the  form  and  power  of 
the  symbolic  expression  of  truth.  The  mind  is  not  content 
with  the  bare  facts.  It  must  know  the  nature  of  them, 
the  power  behind  them,  and  the  laws  of  their  production. 
It  likewise  is  not  content  with  bare  statements  of  the 
truth,  but  seeks  ever  to  beautify  the  truth  with  ornate 
diction,  perfected  formulas,  and  glowing  symbolism.  The 
principle  of  evolution  moves  upward  from  crudeness  to 
perfection;  from  ugliness  to  beauty;  from  roughness  to 
polish.  The  simplest  spiritual  service  obeying  the  same 
law  moves  upward  ever  until  it  reaches  the  most  elaborate 
ceremonial.  The  commonest  daily  activity  inevitably 
takes  on  the  character  of  a  sacrament. 

In  dealing  with  the  immensities  we  naturally  turn  to 
rhetoric  for  help.  The  ten  spies  returning  to  Moses 
reported  that,  compared  to  the  powerful  Canaanites,  "We 
are  like  grasshoppers."  The  ecstatic  Isaiah,  comparing 
the  nations  and  peoples  with  the  God  Who  is  vision- 
revealed,  saw  them  as  a  "drop  in  the  bucket,"  as  the  small 
dust  of  the  balance."  Only  the  boundless  dimensions  of 
length,  breadth,  height,  and  depth  can  express  the  great- 
ness of  Divine  mercy,  love,  and  forgiveness. 

[13] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

Spiritual  rhetoric  exhausts  language  and  imagery  in 
picturing  the  greatness  and  goodness  of  the  Supreme  One, 
that  it  may  properly  impress  us  with  the  dignity  and 
character  of  the  life  of  His  Life  of  which  we  are  living 
expressions,  and  thus  help  us  to  realize  and  use  our  own 
potentially  divine  natures  to  accomplish  God-like  results. 
LOGIC 

This  is  correct  reasoning,  especially  by  inference.  The 
logic  of  Being  is,  "I  am  God,  and  beside  Me  there  is 
none  else."  When  science  has  gathered  all  facts  and 
philosophy  has  formulated  their  purpose  and  end,  and  art 
has  devised  rules  of  application,  the  logic  of  life  is  that  it 
begins  with  God  and  ends  with  God.  Back  of  every 
effect  stands  the  Cause.  Back  of  all  causes  and  causality 
stands  the  Changeless  Cause.  God  alone  is  the  Ultimate 
Being.  Back  of  light  and  darkness,  back  of  truth  and 
error,  back  of  right  and  wrong,  back  of  matter  and  spirit, 
and  all  expressions  of  duality  whatsoever,  stands  the  one 
Ultimate  Reality,  saying,  "LOOK  UNTO  ME  AND  BE  YE 
SAVED,"  and  by  "ever  looking  unto  Him,  the  Author  and 
Finisher  of  our  faith,"  all  else  is  relative  reality. 

Steadfastly  beholding  Him  who  is  Good,  there  is  no 
evil. 

Steadfastly  facing  Him  who  is  Spirit,  there  is  no  matter 
with  its  laws. 

Steadfastly  facing  Him  who  is  Abundance  and  Com- 
pleteness, there  is  no  lack,  loss,  absence  or  deprivation. 

Steadfastly  facing  Him  who  is  Love,  there  is  no  fear, 
for  there  is  nothing  to  fear. 

[14] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  ARTS 

Steadfastly  facing  Him  who  is  perfect  Wholeness,  there 
is  no  sin,  sickness  nor  death. 

Steadfastly  facing  Him  who  only  hath  Immortality, 
man  is  immortal. 

To  the  downward  vision  which  entangles  our  feet  in 
the  web  of  things,  these  are  all  real,  while  to  the  uplifted 
eye,  beholding  the  One  Reality,  things  are  non-existent. 

This  is  the  logic  of  the  spiritual  life,  and  points  the 
way  to  be  saved  from  the  bondage  of  sense,  and  time,  and 
space,  and  limitation,  into  freedom,  aspiration  and  God- 
likeness.  Because  God  is  I  Am. 

MATHEMATICS 

Primarily  this  science  has  to  do  with  numbers  and 
spaces,  but  its  principles  applied  to  the  spiritual  life 
appear  in  such  problems  as,  "Give  all  diligence  to  add  to 
your  faith,  power,  and  to  power,  knowledge,  and  to 
knowledge,  self-mastery,"  etc. 

However,  in  spiritual  mathematics  subtraction  comes 
first.  There  is  the  taking  away  of  false  notions,  wrong 
ideas  and  actions  and  hurtful  habits,  obsolete  words  and 
statements  of  truth.  Then  follows  addition,  for  in  spir- 
itual addition  only  likes  can  be  added  to  likes.  The  unlike 
cannot  be  added. 

This  is  followed  by  multiplication,  the  short  method  of 
addition,  for  spiritual  potencies  grow  so  fast  that  only  the 
terms  of  multiplication  can  express  the  process.  "Grace 
and  peace  be  multiplied  by  the  knowledge  of  God."  The 
multiplicand  is  grace  and  peace;  the  multiplier  is  your 
knowledge  of  God;  the  product  depending  upon  the  size 

[15] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

of  the  multiplier  in  every  case  of  spiritual  attainment. 
"Acquaint  now  thyself  with  God  and  be  at  peace."  The 
measure  of  your  peace  is  your  knowledge  of  God. 

Spiritual  division  follows,  in  which  diversities  of  gifts 
are  imparted  among  men,  according  to  the  proportion  of 
their  faith,  and  this  spiritual  ratio  and  proportion  is 
always  evident  in  the  endeavors  we  put  forth  and  the 
results  which  we  obtain. 

Spiritual  mathematics  presents  the  enigma  that  one  and 
one  make  one,  never  more  and  never  less,  and  these  count- 
less unities  make  eventually  one  Unity,  "that  God  may 
be  all  in  all." 

It  is  an  axiom  of  mathematics  that  "A  whole  is  equal 
to  the  sum  of  all  its  parts,"  which  finds  its  parallel  in 
spiritual  Being,  in  which  all  individual  expressions  of 
life  are  summed  up  in  the  One  Being. 

GEOMETRY 

The  great  science  of  measurements,  dealing  with  three- 
dimensional  principles,  finds  itself  confronted  by  space 
that  is  topless,  bottomless,  sideless,  endless.  And  spiritual 
geometry  finds  this  boundless  space  filled  with  a  Being 
whose  love  dissolves  sins,  restores  integrity,  inspires  effort, 
and  moulds  character. 

Spiritual  geometry  announces  the  great  triangle  of  spir- 
itual experience  in  the  words,  FAITH,  HOPE,  LOVE.  The 
first  two  discover  and  bring  into  spiritual  realization  all 
the  riches  of  the  spiritual  existence,  and  make  them  pos- 
sessions and  endowments  of  the  soul,  while  the  third  one, 
LOVE,  goes  forth  with  arms  extended,  to  shower  its  bless- 

[16] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  ARTS 

ing  and  its  abundance  upon  others,  and  so  to  reflect  its 
kinship  to  that  God  of  love  Whose  language  is  giving. 

MUSIC 

Harmony  is  an  adaptation  of  parts,  one  to  another,  so 
as  to  form  a  connected  whole.  The  lack  of  this  proper 
adaptation  between  the  various  intervals  in  the  scale 
brings  inharmony,  or  discord.  In  the  realm  of  spiritual 
harmony  there  is  conceivable  a  kingdom  of  harmony  in 
which  all  wills  move  in  unison  in  thought,  word  and  deed. 
This  is  the  Universal  Stave. 

Poetry  has  dreamed  of  the  "music  of  the  spheres."  The 
illumined  prophet  saw  in  the  seraphim  the  impersonation 
of  the  forces  of  the  universe  offering  themselves  unto  God 
in  service.  And  all  of  the  inspired  ones  have  at  times 
risen  above  the  tumult  and  discord  in  the  wheel  of  earthly 
things  to  see  a  Kingdom  in  which  there  is  not  one  thing 
to  offend,  peopled  with  beings  "without  spot  or  wrinkle 
of  any  such  thing";  where  there  is  an  end  of  evil,  of 
sorrow,  and  of  death. 

In  moving  upward  toward  this  "far-off  divine  event, 
toward  which  the  whole  creation  moves,"  human  experi- 
ence has  developed  two  songs  with  which  to  still  every 
earthly  inharmony.  A  song  is  the  constantly  recurring 
note  about  a  single  theme,  and  its  purpose  is  by  such 
repetition  to  fix  our  wandering-mindedness  back  upon  the 
one  essential  truth. 

The  song  of  the  ancients  had  for  its  theme,  I  AM  THAT 
I  AM,  and  was  called  the  "Song  of  Moses." 

The  song  of  modern  peoples  has  for  its  central  theme 

[17] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

that  one  Matchless  Name,  forever  enshrined  in  the  world 
of  harmony,  or  heaven — JESUS  CHRIST,  and  it  is  called 
the  "Song  of  the  Lamb." 

Facing  the  troubles,   the  trials,  the  afflictions  of  this 
life,  which  have  separated   us  from  our   heritage,   "the 
ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall  return  and  come  to  Zion  with 
songs,  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads."    And  these 
are  the  songs  they  sing.     And  these  are  the  shouts  of 
triumph  before  which  all  walls  of  obstruction  fall  down. 
Steadfastly  facing  Him,  sing  this  old  song  of  Moses: 
"Oh,  High  and  Lofty  One  inhabiting  eternity, 

Clothing  Thyself  with  beauty,  as  with  a  garment, 

Hiding  Thyself  under  the  names  of  relationship, 

I  know  that  Thou  art,  and  that  Thou  art 

The  Rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  Thee. 

Deliver  me  by  the  might  of  Thy  great  name — I  AM." 
Or  this  song  of  the  Lamb : 
"Oh  Face  of  the  Blessed,  behold  me 

Bowing  with  every  kindred  and  tongue 

In  glad  allegiance  to  Thy  loving  care ; 

Breathe  into  me  the  breath  of  Thy  deathless  Life; 

Feed  me  with  Thine  unfailing  Substance ; 

Infold  me  in  the  secret  place  of  Eternal  safety  and 
power, 

Thy  matchless  name — JESUS  CHRIST." 
Hidden  in  these  songs  is  the  might  of  that  kingdom 
which,  released  by  faith,  brings  food  and  clothing  and 
plenty,  rolls  back  the  stone,  stops  the  lion's  mouth, 
quenches  the  power  of  flame,  makes  Aeneas'  palsy  to 
depart,  and  makes  Dorcas  rise  into  life  again.  They  are 
the  songs  of  High  Deliverance. 

[18] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  ARTS 
ASTRONOMY 

Man's  first  thought  of  the  world  is  that  his  little  earth 
is  the  center  of  things.  Then  he  learns  that  he  is  deceived 
by  appearance.  Some  far-off  sun  is  found  to  be  the  center. 
When  he  gets  adjusted  to  the  heliocentric  idea,  astronomy 
comes  to  his  aid  with  a  scale  of  distance  and  immensity 
beyond  his  power  to  adequately  conceive,  telling  him  of 
another  center  about  which  all  things  move,  and  conjec- 
turing that  even  this  great  system  is  only  a  small  part  of  a 
vastly  greater,  until  his  mind  can  no  longer  grasp  the 
thought,  for  it  leads  to  infinity. 

Astronomy  shows  man  the  wonderful  forces  playing  in 
this  material  universe;  the  marvelous  exactness  of  the 
laws  by  which  it  is  governed;  the  infinite  intelligence 
manifest  in  the  movements  of  its  numberless  worlds;  and 
in  the  development  processes  going  forward  everywhere. 
Astronomy  hints  a  wonderful  beneficence  in  the  results  of 
these  activities,  and  a  remarkable  adaptation  of  the  whole 
situation  to  the  needs  of  man  at  the  present  stage  of  his 
unfoldment. 

So  man  is  led  to  see  in  this  universe  governed  by  law 
and  order  the  temporary  form  of  a  spiritual  reality,  a 
spiritual  universe  of  perfect  law  and  order,  of  perfect 
being,  life,  intelligence,  love,  goodness,  and  every  other 
right  idea,  the  sum  total  of  which  we  call  God.  So  that 
God  is  over  all,  through  all,  in  all,  and  all  in  all;  the 
totality. 

Man's  first  thought  of  this  infinity  is  that  himself  is 
the  center  of  being  which  has  no  circumference,  but 

[19] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

astronomy  leads  him  to  think  of  other  centers  like  himself 
who  make  up  a  system  of  spiritual  life  called  the  body  of 
Christ — the  divinely  conscious.  He  is  led  to  think  of 
other  worlds  of  intelligences,  with  their  activities,  "other 
sheep  not  of  this  fold,"  until  at  last  his  mind  conceives 
that  all  of  them  are  gathered  into  one  Being  who  is 
Infinite. 

In  this  Being  who  is  bottomless,  topless,  endless  and 
boundless,  man  is  ever  in  God.  He  cannot  get  lost  in 
material  earths  or  spiritual  heavens.  He  cannot  wander 
from  his  father's  house  which  embraces  all.  He  cannot 
lack  any  good  thing,  for  all  things  are  his  at  any  moment 
when  he  will  claim  and  use  them.  Out  of  the  limitations 
of  his  earthly  temple  he  is  born  from  above,  into  largeness 
of  consciousness,  and  gradually  moves  upward  to  a  destiny 
as  limitless  as  God  in  Whom  he  lives  and  moves  and  has 
his  being.  His  highest  attainment  in  the  University  of 
Hard  Knocks  is  to  become  fully  conscious  of  this  spiritual 
reality  as  always  in  action,  and  always  available,  which 
works  in  and  through  him  to  the  attainment  of  every 
ideal,  and  the  full  realization  of  every  divinely  inspired 
impulse. 

Besides  these  arts  and  embracing  them  all  there  is  THE 
FINE  ART  OF  BEING  WELL,  which  consists  in  the  use  of 
methods  and  rules  by  which  the  body  is  brought  to  har- 
monious co-operation  in  all  of  its  functions,  and  is  thereby 
made  a  fit  temple  for  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  of  Life. 

The  mind  is  set  to  the  task  of  developing  its  forty  and 
more  faculties  until  it  comes  to  the  measure  of  the  stature 

[20] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  ARTS 

of  the  fullness  of  Christ.  The  spirit  likewise  following 
the  art  of  spiritual  attainment  is  to  reach  that  perception 
of  the  spiritual  realities  of  existence  and  so  work  in  har- 
mony with  them  that  by-and-bye  when  we  shall  appear  in 
the  glory  of  spiritual  realms,  we  shall  be  like  Him,  clothed 
with  equal  brightness  and  crowned  with  equal  glory.  It 
is  to  produce  such  a  harmony  in  the  workings  of  the  body, 
the  mind,  and  the  spirit,  that  this  unity  in  turn  may  enter 
into  full  partnership  with  that  spiritual  consciousness 
lying  back  of,  and  expressing  itself  through,  the  universe 
of  things  and  of  beings,  and  realize  completeness  here 
and  now. 

Certain  simple  rules  are  here  formulated  according  to 
the  laws  of  art  to  carry  out  THE  FINE  ART  OF  BEING  WELL, 
which  includes  well-being  for  body,  mind,  and  spirit, 
whether  it  be  health,  happiness,  prosperity  or  serenity  of 
spirit,  or  whatever  you  want  to  be. 

Earnestly  desire  to  be  perfectly  whole,  to  be  successful, 
to  be  beautiful,  or  whatever  else  your  wish  may  call  for. 
The  desire  is  innate.  It  is  of  God.  The  very  fact  that 
you  desire  it  is  the  prophecy  of  its  possibility  and  the 
warrant  of  its  full  realization,  but  you  can  intensify  it  by 
dwelling  upon  it,  thinking  and  talking  about  it. 

Visualize  it.  Mentally  picture  yourself  as  perfectly 
well  and  filled  with  abounding  energy;  as  graceful  in 
movement;  beautiful  in  form;  bright  and  active  in  con- 
versation ;  perfect  in  your  love  toward  others ;  as  successful 
and  happy.  See  yourself  as  the  image  of  the  Perfect  One ; 
clothe  yourself  with  His  Health,  Strength,  and  Goodness, 

[21] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

and  you  will  find  every  ill  slipping  away,  for  "no  man  can 
see  God  and  live"  after  his  former  estate.  This  method 
applies  for  success  or  any  other  possible  attainment. 

Affirm  that  the  thing  you  desire  and  visualize  is  yours. 
Keep  affirming  it  until  it  becomes  the  habit  of  your  mind 
to  think  of  yourself  as  you  want  to  be,  and  when  it  be- 
comes your  habit  to  think  of  yourself  as  you  want  to  be, 
then  you  will  be  what  you  want  to  be.  Affirm  until  your 
mind  passes  out  of  the  exercise  of  affirmation  into  full 
consciousness  and  realization. 

Believe  that  it  is  for  you;  that  it  is  now  yours;  that 
your  real  self  partakes  now  of  the  nature  of  the  Divine 
Mind,  the  Source  of  unspoilable  health,  the  Source  of 
unbounded  success;  count  that  health  as  now  yours  in  your 
real  self,  and  that  inasmuch  as  yourself  in  perfect  health 
fills  every  part  of  your  body,  it  will  make  every  cell  in 
your  body  vibrate  with  perfect  health. 

This  faith  arouses  and  calls  into  action  all  the  healing 
forces  of  the  Absolute,  and  your  faith  is  the  measure  of 
its  working.  "According  to  your  faith  be  it  unto  you." 
Your  faith  is  the  sixth  sense,  the  incorporeal  eye  which 
sees  the  spiritual  reality;  sees  the  crooked  arm  already 
straight;  sees  the  troubled  mind  in  perfect  peace;  sees  the 
disturbed  spirit  resting  serenely  in  the  bosom  of  the  God 
of  love;  sees  the  one  Absolute  Reality  in  which  appears 
the  Divine  Nihilism  of  all  negative  and  relative  things. 

Get  your  will  into  action,  for  "It  shall  be  unto  thee 
even  as  thou  wilt."  Your  imaging  faculties  may  visualize 
health  or  success ;  your  desire  may  focus  on  what  you  want 

[22] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  ARTS 

and  put  you  in  the  right  condition  for  realizing  it;  your 
faith  may  arouse  all  healing  potencies,  but  it  remains  for 
your  will  to  direct  these  to  the  desired  end.  Your  will 
must  hold  you  in  the  attitude  of  receptivity  to  the  divine 
healing  agencies.  It  must  direct  your  thoughts  and  imag- 
ing faculty  to  the  thing  desired.  It  must  resolutely  divert 
your  mind  away  from  pain,  weakness,  failure,  depression, 
poverty  or  whatever  it  is.  These  negative  ideas  and  con- 
ditions return  with  devilish  persistence,  and  only  the  edict 
of  a  royal  will  can  keep  you  from  thinking,  worrying,  and 
fearing  about  them.  Resolutely  set  your  face  as  a  flint 
away  from  them  and  toward  the  spiritual  realities.  You 
need  only  to  attend  to  the  causes  of  health — the  effects 
are  certain. 

Interest  yourself  in  others'  welfare.  It  will  react  on 
you.  Go  out  and  comfort  some  one  in  trouble,  and  you 
will  go  home  relieved  of  your  own  trouble.  Send  out  a 
thought — a  prayer — to  another,  and  the  vibration  will 
reach  and  help  its  object  and  will  react  for  good  upon 
you.  Reduce  your  message  to  the  form  of  a  code,  a  single 
sentence,  a  single  word.  Let  your  love  and  sympathy  and 
desire  to  help  gather  about  your  message  and  empower  it 
to  wing  its  flight  as  you  earnestly  send  it,  and  no  matter 
what  the  mental  attitude  or  state  of  your  friend,  it  will 
bring  to  him  relief. 

Health,  success,  and  happiness  are  all  by-products  of 
simply  busying  ourselves  about  other  things  and  other 
people's  welfare.  Scatter  forth  the  seeds  of  truth,  and 
the  golden  sheaves  of  freedom,  of  health,  of  prosperity, 

[23] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

and  happiness  will  be  the  rich  harvest  along  your  pathway, 
and  will  return  many  fold  into  your  own  bosom. 

The  renewing  power  of  a  new  interest  is  proven  in  the 
life  of  every  individual.  In  fact  the  art  of  living  so  as 
to  defy  the  ills  of  old  age  consists  in  forever  finding  a 
new  and  fresh  interest  for  the  mind  and  new  activities  for 
the  body.  Our  grandmother  retired  at  fifty  to  the  corner 
with  knitting  needles  and  a  white  cap.  Her  race  was 
run.  Today  a  woman's  greatest  work  is  just  begun  when 
the  work  incident  to  the  creative  equipment  is  past  and 
the  higher  and  sublimated  forms  of  the  creative  power 
come  to  the  front.  Then  the  arts,  the  sciences,  the  philos- 
ophies of  life  are  taken  up  and  woman  finds  her  youth 
renewed  under  these  new  inspirations.  This  is  equally 
true  of  the  other  sex.  Even  a  kaiser  can  find  surcease 
from  the  remorse  of  the  most  colossal  crime  of  the  ages  by 
cutting  trees  and  making  garments.  Some  of  the  master 
minds  of  the  ages  have  done  their  greatest  work  late  in 
life  by  finding  some  new  problem  to  solve. 

The  genius  of  living  is  revealed  in  service.  The  secret 
formula  of  genius  is  given  in  the  words,  "I  Am  among 
you  as  One  that  serveth."  The  indelible  water-mark  of 
genius  is  to  work  patiently  on  to  achieve  the  desired  end, 
and  to  resolutely  put  aside  discouragement  or  impatience, 
at  least  to  prevent  anyone  from  finding  it  out  if  you 
should  feel  them. 

Therefore,  if  you  would  graduate  from  the  college  of 
Arts,  and  know  and  enjoy  THE  FINE  ART  OF  BEING  WELL, 
you  must  "study  to  show  thyself  approved  unto  God  a 

[24] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  ARTS 

workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed."  You  must 
earnestly  seek  the  vision  of  the  higher  ends  of  living  and 
then  "endure  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible."  You  must 
"be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage."  You  must  hold 
clearly  in  your  mind  your  objective  and  "patiently  wait 
for  it."  You  must  fully  believe  that  it  is  for  you,  and 
then  "show  your  faith  by  your  works."  And  you  must 
"work  out  your  salvation,"  keeping  ever  in  mind  that  "it 
is  God  that  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do."  For 
whatsoever  life  holds  for  you  it  is  prefaced  by  the  Eternal 
promise,  "it  shall  come  to  pass,"  and  is  crowned  with  the 
Absolute  period,  "and  it  came  to  pass." 


[25] 


FULFILLMENT 

The  thing  that  I  thought  I  wanted 

Was  the  thing  that  I  did  not  get  ; 
The  thing  that  I  got  was  empty, 

Was  bitter,  was  sad,  and  yet 
I  learned  a  wonderful  lesson, 

A  lesson  of  more  than  control, 
For  I  left  my  selfish  darkness, 

I  live  in  the  light  of  the  soul. 

The  thing  that  I  thought  I  wanted 

It  had  broken  my  heart  to  lose; 
The  thing  that  I  got  but  added 

A  throbbing  pain  to  the  bruise. 
And  yet  the  light  of  heaven 

Banished  the  clouds  of  earth, 
And  I  found  a  joy  eternal 

In  place  of  fleeting  mirth. 

And  now  things  that  I  want 

Are  always  the  things  that  I  get, 
And  the  things  that  I  get  are  sweet; 

They  leave  me  with  no  regret, 
For  I  find  I  have  ceased  to  ask 

From  a  selfish  wish  alone, 
Because  in  the  light  of  the  soul 

I  long  for,  I  want  but  my  own. 

— Mrs.  Cornelius  A.  Fish. 

[26] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  LAW 

THE  universe  in  its  last  analysis  is  spiritual.  It  is 
being  adjusted  to  material  form  and  mechanical 
means  of  expression.  It  is  an  evolution  out  of  the 
unseen  into  the  seen ;  out  of  the  Absolute  into  the  relative ; 
out  of  the  everywhere  into  the  here ;  out  of  eternity  into 
the  now.  This  evolution  proceeds  by  certain  orderly 
methods  called  laws.  Law  has  no  causality  in  it.  It  is  a 
rule  by  which  some  power  beyond  it  proceeds.  A  law  is 
the  way  a  thing  is  done.  It  is  energy  following  a  certain 
norm  or  method  of  expression.  Things  exist  and  events 
occur  in  certain  ways,  called  laws. 

The  reign  of  law  is  universal.  All  realms  are  con- 
stituted to  be  governed  and  perpetuated  by  law.  All  beings 
are  likewise  governed  by  laws  suitable  to  their  nature  and 
condition  of  existence.  There  is  a  law  for  inanimate 
things,  and  a  law  for  the  animate,  and  a  law  for  intel- 
ligent beings  in  the  flesh,  and  a  law  for  purely  spiritual 
beings.  Everything  must  obey  the  laws  governing  it.  The 
material  world  would  be  a  chaos  if  it  did  not  obey  the 
laws  of  inertia  and  gravitation.  The  animal  world  would 
cease  did  it  not  obey  the  laws  of  nourishment  and  growth. 
Every  rational  being  in  the  universe  is  bound  to  fail  of 
this  life's  vast  good  if  he  neglects  to  keep  the  law  of  his 
being.  There  is  the  tradition  of  such  failure  with  the 

[27] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

early  progenitors  of  our  race.  There  is  a  tradition  con- 
cerning "angels  which  kept  not  their  first  estate,"  and  it 
is  possible  that  God  Himself  might  fail  if  He  did  not 
fulfill  the  whole  law,  just  as  a  vast  business  might  fail 
for  lack  of  organization,  order,  and  central  authority. 

Among  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  universe  of  ma- 
terial things  there  is  the  law  of  Inertia,  by  which  matter 
is  held  in  a  state  of  rest.  And  the  law  of  Gravitation  by 
which  the  relation  of  each  part  to  the  others,  and  of  all 
parts  to  the  whole  material  organism,  is  maintained.  There 
is  the  law  of  the  Conservation  of  energy  by  which  the 
sum  total  of  matter  is  preserved  against  waste,  and  there 
is  the  law  of  the  Conversion  of  energy  by  which  the  work- 
ing forces  may  adapt  materials  to  any  possible  need. 

Within  the  operation  of  these  laws  is  the  principle  that 
in  the  raising  of  lower  forms  of  matter  and  energy  up 
to  higher  forms  there  is  invariably  the  attending  facts  of 
heat  and  stress.  The  gold  is  extracted  from  the  ore  by 
heat  and  hard  pounding.  The  diamond  is  brought  to  its 
power  of  expression  by  the  fast  flying  emery  wheel.  Ore 
goes  up  from  pig  iron  to  spring  steel  by  heat  and  ham- 
mering and  chemical  action.  Perfume  comes  out  of  the 
flower  under  pressure. 

In  the  realm  of  moral  law  strength  of  character  is 
realized  under  the  influence  of  trial  and  temptation,  just 
as  the  muscle  gains  strength  by  exercise.  These  grow  out 
of  the  laws  governing  the  individual  expression  as  it  comes 
into  contact  with  the  laws  governing  the  social  body,  and 
the  necessary  adjustments  thereof. 

[28] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  LAW 

In  the  mental  realm  the  law  of  development  is  that 
thinking  power  unfolds  according  to  mental  laws,  and 
that  the  mind  acquires  power  through  its  contacts  with 
material  things  in  seeking  knowledge  of,  and  control  over 
them.  The  mind  gains  facility  of  action  through  the 
stress  of  work.  The  will  acquires  strength  by  repeated 
action  of  the  will  in  choosing  one  of  two  or  more  alterna- 
tives. Cognition  becomes  clear  only  by  the  unceasing  ef- 
fort to  think.  Feelings  become  deep  and  reliable  and  in- 
spiring only  when  they  are  constantly  tested  by  adjusting 
to  changing  conditions  as  they  appeal  to  the  emotional 
life.  Thus  the  mind  moves  upward  from  ignorance  to 
knowledge  and  wisdom  and  understanding  through  the 
stress  and  challenge  of  difficulty. 

In  the  realm  of  spiritual  laws  those  things  of  highest 
value  are  made  most  difficult  of  attainment.  The  Great 
Captain  of  our  salvation  was  made  perfect  by  the  things 
that  He  suffered.  The  same  thought  is  found  in  the 
words,  "The  God  of  all  grace  .  .  .  after  ye  have  suffered 
awhile,  make  you  perfect,  stablish,  strengthen,  settle  you." 
Those  who  were  "clothed  in  white  robes"  had  already 
"come  up  through  great  tribulation."  The  human  life 
moves  up  from  animalism  to  spiritual  supremacy  and 
power  only  in  the  University  of  Hard  Knocks. 

THE  LAW  IN  OPERATION 

The  law  works  after  the  principle  of  cause  and  effect, 
rather  than  by  that  of  rewards  and  punishments.  In  all 
material  things  this  is  accepted,  but  in  human  affairs  it  is 

[29] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

debatable,  for  the  reason  that  the  human  being  is  able  to 
feel  the  effects  of  disobeying  the  law,  and  to  think  about 
it  and  to  conjure  up  the  specters  of  right  and  wrong,  and 
by  letting  them  get  headway  in  his  life  do  himself  to 
death,  thinking  that  he  is  being  rewarded  or  punished 
accordingly  as  his  experiences  are  pleasurable  or  other- 
wise, when  he  is  really  being  corrected  in  his  views  of 
life  and  is  undergoing  enlargement  of  outlook  through 
the  operation  of  this  law  of  cause  and  effect. 

The  idea  of  Job's  day  was  that  when  a  man  received 
ill  it  was  a  sign  that  he  was  a  sinner,  and  the  enormity 
of  his  sin  was  determined  by  the  severity  of  his  suffering, 
all  of  which  was  attributed  to  the  action  of  a  personal 
being  against  whom  he  had  offended.  It  was  a  crude 
groping  after  the  law  of  cause  and  effect.  In  Job's  par- 
ticular case,  he  had  ceased  to  grow  because  he  was  so 
well  situated  and  so  comfortable,  and  this  violation  of  the 
law  of  growth  called  out  all  the  effects  as  they  are  seen 
in  that  wonderful  narrative.  He  was  emancipated  from 
the  limitations  arising  out  of  failure  to  grow,  and  the 
result  is  seen  in  a  greatly  enlarged  enjoyment  of  life. 
He  had  not  knowingly  violated  the  law,  it  is  true ;  never- 
theless he  received  the  full  benefit  of  the  effects  of  his 
unknowing  violation  of  the  law  of  progress,  not  because 
he  deserved  it,  but  because  he  needed  the  emancipation 
into  larger  life,  through  practicing  a  higher  obedience  to 
the  law  of  life  as  it  was  for  him. 

ALL    LAW    IS     POSITIVE CONSTRUCTIVE 

All  its  results  are  beneficient  as  long  as  the  natural 
[30] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  LAW 

movement  of  the  law  is  known  and  kept.  When  the  law 
is  violated  there  follow  consequences  whose  repetition  may 
eventually  become  a  law  of  itself.  Digestion,  for  instance, 
normally  follows  the  keeping  of  the  law  of  dietetics,  while 
the  violation  of  the  law  brings  out  a  new  and  unpleasant 
law  of  procedure  called  indigestion. 

The  laws  of  heat  when  kept  can  bring  comfort  in  any 
clime,  but  violated,  a  new  law  of  expression  called  cold 
comes  in  the  form  of  the  absence  of  heat. 

The  laws  of  light  when  kept  flood  our  pathway  with 
light  and  certainty,  while  their  violation  brings  darkness 
and  uncertainty  or  the  absence  of  light. 

Mental  activity  brings  knowledge,  while  mental  in- 
dolence leaves  us  in  the  negative  ignorance. 

The  positive  "law  of  Life  in  Christ  Jesus" — a  law  of 
conscious  oneness  with  God,  obeyed  gives  us  character 
like  God,  and  makes  the  human  soul  "free  from  the  law 
of  sin  and  death,"  which  is  the  absence  of  conscious  one- 
ness and  harmony  with  God,  which  becomes  a  rule  of 
existence  by  disobedience.  From  these  facts  it  appears 
that  that  which  at  first  is  merely  a  negative,  or  the  absence 
of  the  positive,  rises  by  continued  action  into  the  dignity 
of  a  law  of  wrong  procedure,  together  with  its  effects. 

All  good  comes  from  the  keeping  of  the  law  in  its  par- 
ticular realm.  All  evil  comes  as  a  result  of  not  keeping 
the  law.  Every  ill,  therefore,  is  the  result  of  law  unkept. 
There  may  be  no  moral  turpitude  attached ;  that  is  to  say, 
the  law  was  not  broken  intentionally,  especially  not  with 

[31] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

the  purpose  of  injuring  self  or  another,  yet  the  effect 
comes  as  a  result  of  sin  which  is  the  violation  of  the  law, 
consciously  or  otherwise,  by  the  afflicted  one  or  by  some- 
one else.  The  fact  that  all  evil  of  any  sort,  moral,  mental 
or  physical,  arises  from  some  form  of  sin,  was  recognized 
by  the  Master  of  the  University  of  Hard  Knocks,  when 
He  said,  "It  is  as  easy  to  say  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee,  as  to 
say,  arise,  take  up  thy  bed  and  walk."  He  could  not  say 
one  without  saying  the  other.  The  fact  that  He  could  say 
the  one  and  have  it  come  to  pass  was  evidence  that  He 
could  say  the  other  and  have  it  come  to  pass.  Further- 
more, when  He  said  one  it  always  included  the  other. 
Finally  the  fact  that  He  used  the  expression  regardless 
of  whether  the  trouble  was  physical  or  spiritual  indicated 
that  He  regarded  any  and  all  ills  as  arising  from  sin. 

All  ill  comes  then  from  sin.  Sin  is  a  violation  of  the 
law, — a  missing  of  the  mark.  The  remedy  for  sin,  there- 
fore, is  to  keep  the  law — to  hit  the  target.  The  remedial 
work  begins  when  we  stop  sinning.  The  consequences  of 
the  law  are  automatic.  If  we  get  pain  by  violating  the 
law,  we  get  ease  by  keeping  the  law.  Every  law  is 
remedial  and  healthful,  and  the  moment  we  begin  to  keep 
it,  recovery  begins.  To  use  the  old  form  of  thought,  if 
the  law  is  self-punishing,  it  is  also  self-rewarding.  "Cease 
to  do  evil,  and  learn  to  do  well,"  was  the  scriptural 
recognition  of  the  automatic,  remedial,  self-healing  action 
of  the  law. 

THE    LAW    IS    CHANGELESS,    BUT    ADAPTABLE 

All  law  is  immutable.    It  cannot  be  changed.    It  can- 
[32] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  LAW 

not  be  broken  with  impunity,  but  it  may  be  adapted  to 
the  conditions  of  existence.  As  the  conditions  in  a  given 
case  change,  the  law  is  adjusted  to  meet  the  new  condi- 
tions of  existence.  For  example,  vegetarianism  was  the  diet- 
ary law  at  first  when  the  population  was  scattered  and  the 
activities  of  life  were  simple .  With  a  complex  civilization 
arose  the  necessary  use  of  foods  in  more  concentrated 
form  and  more  easily  procurable  under  all  exigencies.  In 
like  manner  things  which  were  allowable  in  the  time  of 
Moses  were  no  longer  permissable  under  the  more  en- 
lightened times  of  the  Master.  And  the  consciousness  of 
the  race  concerning  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  slavery, 
and  the  rights  of  woman,  has  risen  so  that  there  is  a  new 
adaptation  of  the  law  to  ever  changing  conditions. 

THE  VALUE  OF  A  LAW 

A  law  is  important  according  to  the  interest  it  protects. 
The  law  of  existence  expressed  in  the  primal  instinct  of 
self-preservation  has  made  respect  for  human  life,  and  the 
right  for  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  to 
assume  the  place  of  first  importance,  while  the  questions 
of  possessions,  morals,  and  all  else  come  in  as  secondary 
considerations. 

The  laws  of  the  physical  body  are  of  great  importance, 
but  they  have  to  do  with  that  which  is  but  temporary, 
while  the  laws  pertaining  to  the  mind  and  soul  are  of 
supreme  importance  because  they  have  to  do  with  the 
immortal  self  and  its  destiny  through  development.  The 
violation  of  the  physical  laws  does  not  popularly  come  in 

[33] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

the  same  category  of  sinfulness  as  the  violation  of  those 
laws  which  have  to  do  with  the  moral  nature. 

In  every  case  the  law  is  remedial,  be  it  great  or  small, 
in  the  interest  it  protects.  The  moment  the  law-breaker 
becomes  a  law-keeper  the  healing  action  of  the  law  begins. 
In  the  midst  of  the  blindest  bigotry  as  to  their  definition 
of  sin  and  their  demand  for  its  punishment,  calmly  stood 
the  Master,  and  said,  ''Neither  do  I  condemn  thee;  go 
thy  way  and  sin  no  more." 

In  the  good  old  time,  the  promise  to  Israel  was  that 
when  they  began  to  keep  the  law  the  Lord  would  restore 
to  them  the  years  that  the  caterpillar  and  the  cankerworm 
had  eaten.  It  was  a  wonderful  way  of  saying  that  what 
one  needs  to  do  is  to  know  and  keep  the  law,  and  he  shall 
be  made  whole,  and  that  which  he  has  lost  or  its  equiva- 
lent shall  be  restored  to  him.  To  know  the  truth  and 
keep  it  as  it  applies  to  his  particular  case  of  violating  the 
law  will  make  him  free  from  the  bondage  of  sin  and  enter 
him  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God. 

The  remedy  for  any  ill  is  not  only  to  deny  the  ill,  but 
to  know  the  law,  affirm  and  keep  it.  We  do  not  deny  the 
darkness  nor  try  to  drive  it  out,  but  we  obey  the  law  of 
light  by  turning  on  the  electric  current.  We  do  not  cure 
pain  by  merely  denying  it,  but  by  obeying  the  law  of  ease 
and  comfort,  by  laying  emphasis  on  the  fact  that  God  is 
the  God  of  all  comfort,  and  using  the  things  that  make 
for  comfort.  In  the  sight  of  the  law  pain  is  but  a  symp- 
tom of  growth.  Trouble  is  a  trumpet  call  to  triumph 
over  difficulties.  Stumbling  blocks  are  a  golden  stairway 

[34] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  LAW 

leading  to  the  heavens  of  repose  and  peace.  Every  knock 
is  a  boost ;  every  fall  is  an  upward  movement. 

Accept  them,  therefore,  as  a  part  of  the  curriculum  in 
the  University  of  Hard  Knocks  which  is  to  eventually 
graduate  you  into  self-mastery.  Take  them  cheerfully. 
If  the  cup  of  trouble  is  presented  to  you,  drink  of  it.  Take 
your  medicine  and  do  not  play  with  the  spoon,  at  least, 
not  until  you  have  swallowed  the  dose.  Half  of  the  ill  is 
neutralized  when  you  get  rid  of  self-pity.  Do  not  be 
sorry  for  yourself.  Do  not  try  to  work  on  others'  sym- 
pathy. Such  an  attitude  is  a  sign  of  weakness.  No  real 
man  is  looking  for  a  soft  snap.  The  call  to  suffer  and 
endure  and  to  master  the  causes  of  suffering  challenges 
the  best  within  man.  Only  a  weakling  wants  to  be  pro- 
tected from  the  necessity  of  meeting  for  himself  and 
solving  of  his  own  initiative  and  persistence,  the  problems 
of  life. 

Matter  is  the  material  expression  of  energy.  Withdraw 
energy  and  matter  disappears.  Energy  is  kinetic  and 
potential,  it  is  God  in  action  or  at  rest.  It  is  uncreated, 
for  it  is  a  principle  of  divine  being.  It  cannot  be  in- 
creased nor  diminished.  Its  action  may  be  raised  and 
materialization  takes  place.  Its  action  may  be  decreased 
or  changed,  and  dematerialization  takes  place.  In  other 
words,  certain  combinations  of  energy  move  into  material 
expression  while  other  combinations  move  to  destroy  ma- 
terial form.  But  the  volume  of  energy  is  neither  increased 
nor  diminished. 

That  combination  of  energy  which  we  call  human  life 

[35] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

is  measured  in  its  manifestation  of  power  by  the  number 
of  the  laws  of  expression  a  given  person  can  obey.  Inas- 
much as  all  the  forces  of  God  are  potentially  in  man, 
and  are  subject  to  his  command,  it  follows  that  he  can  at 
will  increase  or  decrease  the  volume  of  energy  he  expresses, 
and  so  determine  the  richness  and  beauty  of  his  life. 

This  power  to  command  the  forces  of  the  universe  was 
spoken  of  in  the  pastoral  parable  of  Edenic  creation,  is 
again  recognized  by  Isaiah,  Chap.  45:  11,  where  God  is 
represented  as  saying,  "Concerning  my  sons,  and  concern- 
ing the  works  of  my  hands  command  ye  me."  This  mas- 
tery of  energy  is  offered  to  him  who  will  know  and  keep 
its  laws,  so  that  he  may  at  a  word  make  the  oil  and  meal 
or  the  loaves  and  fishes  increase,  or  the  swelling  or  the 
eating  sore  to  be  healed,  or  the  anxious  fretting  of  the 
mind  to  cease.  It  is  the  authority  to  command  the  invis- 
ible forces  and  know  that  "  it  shall  be  as  thou  wilt." 

SUMMARY 

The  reign  of  law  is  universal.  The  law  is  no  respecter 
of  persons.  If  even  God  should  violate  His  Own  laws  He 
would  cease  to  be  God.  If  man  violates  them  he  ceases 
to  be  God-like. 

The  law  is  corrective  and  constructive.  Its  effects  are 
educative  rather  than  destructive.  The  whole  scheme  of 
living  consists  in  learning  the  laws  of  life  and  keeping 
them. 

The  physical  body  passes  through  all  the  processes  of 
growth  and  change  and  renewal  in  obedience  to  law.  Any 
attempt  to  run  one  department  of  the  organism  by  the 

[36] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  LAW 

laws  governing  another  department  inevitably  calls  up 
the  old  tutors  of  pain  and  disease.  No  amount  of  right 
thinking  can  make  amends  for  sleeping  in  a  closed  room 
or  eating  wrong  food  combinations.  Nor  can  perfect 
breathing  in  the  open  air  take  the  place  of  nourishing 
food,  or  proper  exercise.  The  laws  of  metabolism  which 
demand  the  breathing  of  plenty  of  oxygen  are  as  imperious 
in  their  demands  as  those  of  dietetics  or  hygiene.  The  law 
is,  therefore,  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  health. 

The  laws  of  mental  development  are  just  as  specific  as 
those  for  the  organism.  Any  neglect  or  over-development 
of  any  of  the  elements  of  mental  life,  as  Cognition,  Feel- 
ing, or  Will,  eventuates  into  an  unbalanced  mentality, 
while  obedience  to  the  laws  of  education  gives  one  balanced 
mentality,  a  trained  mind,  and  leads  to  mental  efficiency 
and  culture.  The  law  is  therefore  our  schoolmaster  to 
bring  us  to  knowledge  and  wisdom. 

Likewise  the  moral  nature  develops  by  obedience  to  the 
moral  laws  as  they  have  been  revealed  by  ages  of  human 
experience.  However  faulty  the  form  of  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments, they  stand  for  the  protection  of  specific  inter- 
ests of  the  moral  nature  which  can  never  change  as  long 
as  man  lives  on  the  earth.  The  law  is  therefore  our 
schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  character  and  self-mastery. 

Out  of  this  triple  realm  of  the  reign  of  law  the  spiritual 
life  develops  by  attention  to  the  spiritual  laws  of  being, 
and  so  "the  law  is  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Christ," 
the  Anointed,  which  is,  in  a  word,  the  consciousness  of 
Oneness  with  God. 

[37] 


BITTER  SWEET 

"Let  no  man  pray  that  he  know  not  sorrow, 

Let  no  soul  ask  to  be  free  from  pain, 
For  the  gall  of  today  is  the  sweet  of  tomorrow, 

And  the  moment's  loss  is  the  life-time's  gain. 
Let  no  man  shrink  from  the  bitter  tonics 

Of  grief,  and  yearning,  and  need,  and  strife, 
For  the  rarest  chords  in  the  soul's  harmonics, 

Are  found  in  the  minor  strains  of  life." 


[38] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  HISTORY 

HISTORY  has  to  do  with  the  material  world,  its 
development,  the  forces  and  processes  involved 
therein,  and  the  probable  end.  It  has  further 
to  do  with  the  processes  by  which  life  came  upon  the 
earth,  and  the  steady  upward  movement  of  that  life 
through  all  its  variant  forms  until  it  reached  that  form  of 
perfect  expression  called  man.  It  has  to  do  with  man's 
rise  from  animalism,  up  through  savagery  to  civilization. 
It  studies  the  records  of  that  progress  as  they  appear  in 
the  political,  social,  economic,  and  personal  experiences 
of  men. 

The  sources  of  the  history  of  the  material  world  are 
found  in  the  structures  that  abide.  The  stories  of  the 
rocks,  and  soil,  the  testimony  of  the  air,  earth  and  water 
are  all  eloquent  witnesses  of  some  intelligent  purpose, 
finding  material  expression  for  some  fruition  beyond  the 
material  world  itself.  Living  forms  carry  within  them 
the  record  of  an  evolutionary  process  by  which  an  under- 
standing of  their  rise,  their  use,  and  their  probable  end 
may  be  ascertained. 

Biology,  a  scientific  study  of  these  records,  has  shown 
us  how  life  began  with  a  single  cell  whose  unlimited 
multiplication  has  resulted  in  peopling  the  earth  with 
living  creation.  It  shows  how  each  form  carries  within 
itself  the  history  of  its  own  development,  and  the  hered- 

[39] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

itary  influences  of  all  the  forms  that  have  gone  before  it 
and  of  which  it  is  an  improvement. 

Availing  itself  of  the  records  found  in  the  vestigial 
remains  in  the  human  body,  and  the  hereditary  traits  and 
other  marks  of  life  reaching  back  untold  ages,  together 
with  certain  impulses,  both  vague  and  well  defined,  history 
is  being  rewritten  in  reference  to  man's  origin  in  the 
world  and  the  length  of  his  stay  here. 

Remains  and  traces  of  human  life,  reaching  back 
through  vast  and  remote  geological  ages,  and  others  more 
recent,  yet  far  antedating  written  records,  have  enabled 
the  modern  historian  to  present  an  intelligible  case  for 
humanity,  which  has  put  a  new  interpretation  upon  the 
highly  colored  symbolical  attempts  of  the  ancients  to 
account  for  the  world  and  the  life  upon  it. 

Even  the  written  records  of  human  progress  must  be 
read  as  if  one  were  entirely  detached  from  them,  other- 
wise the  element  of  personal  interest  or  sympathy  enters 
in  and  the  historical  record  is  made  to  say  things  that  are 
not  warranted  by  the  facts.  For  history  is  not  only  a 
record  of  the  facts  of  life,  but  it  is  also  a  philosophy  of 
these  facts.  Moreover,  the  facts  must  be  in  hand  before 
the  philosophy  is  formulated,  otherwise  we  shall  read  the 
facts  to  suit  the  philosophy,  instead  of  adjusting  the  phil- 
osophy to  the  facts. 

In  every  age  men  of  special  gifts  and  unusual  illumina- 
tion have  organized  and  recorded  the  experiences  of  hu- 
manity in  such  a  way  as  to  enable  them  to  formulate  some 
statement  of  the  cause,  method  and  purpose  of  living. 

[40] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  HISTORY 

These  have  been  the  seers,  the  illuminati  of  the  ages,  the 
men  who  have  towered  above  their  fellows,  and  their 
records  have  been  incorporated  in  what  are  known  as  the 
"Sacred  Books"  of  humanity. 

Among  all  the  volumes  so  written  and  classified,  there 
stands  out  one  peerless  and  alone  as  an  authority  in  all 
matters  of  physical,  mental,  and  moral  life,  because  of  its 
evident  fidelity  to  facts,  and  the  reasonableness  of  its 
explanation  of  those  facts.  It  deals  with  personal  and 
national  affairs  in  every  stage  of  human  progress  and 
experience.  Its  text  is  in  poetry  and  in  prose.  It  has  to 
do  with  the  most  interesting  and  exalted  subjects,  such 
as  the  earliest  origin  and  history  of  the  human  race;  the 
providential  government  of  God;  the  exhibition  of  the 
alternate  progress  and  declension  of  civilizations;  the 
ways  of  God  in  dealing  with  men;  the  consummation  of 
Divine  wisdom,  purity,  love,  and  life  in  the  Person  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  The  scope  of  its  records  embraces 
laws,  hymns,  prophecies,  correspondence,  philosophy,  nup- 
tial songs,  and  elegies,  in  their  bearing  upon  national, 
social,  and  individual  life.  One  strain  of  agreement  runs 
through  it  all — a  harmonious  presentation  of  the  most 
sublime  views  of  God,  as  to  His  Nature,  Character, 
Words  and  Works;  as  to  man,  his  origin,  fall,  redemp- 
tion, hope  and  destiny;  his  duties  and  privileges,  his  rela- 
tionships in  life,  here  and  hereafter.  It  was  written  by 
illumined  ones  from  every  walk  of  life,  in  the  most  simple 
style,  yet  the  most  beautiful,  dignified  and  ornate  diction. 
In  short,  it  is  the  record  of  the  unfolding  of  the  Con- 

[41] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

sciousness  of  God  in  the  race.  It  is  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament,  and  stands  forth  among  the 
"Sacred  Books"  of  the  world,  as  the  standard  of  religious 
history. 

In  it  is  the  faithful  record  of  the  greatness  and  weak- 
ness of  human  nature,  of  man's  oft-repeated  failures,  and 
his  glorious  achievements.  In  it  are  exhibitions  of  human 
animalism  and  divine  possibilities.  In  it  are  traces  of  the 
phallic  origin  of  all  religions  and  the  ideal  for  the  attain- 
ment of  spiritual  supremacy  by  looking  upward  to  the 
Absolute.  In  it  is  the  marvelous  symbolism  of  the  Ori- 
ental mind,  and  the  common-sense,  matter-of-fact  state- 
ment suited  to  the  Occidental  mind.  It  is  to  be  read  as 
history, — as  a  summary  of  human  experience,  although  it 
deals  largely  with  humanity  from  the  standpoint  of  a 
single  nationality.  Some  of  its  figures  of  speech  have 
never  been  understood,  hence  a  great  variety  of  interpre- 
tations. Most  of  its  facts  are  given  from  an  experimental 
viewpoint;  many  of  its  terms  are  obsolete,  and  some  of 
its  substance  mythical ;  many  of  its  texts  suffer  in  transla- 
tion from  the  original  languages,  while  others  gain  in 
significance.  It  is  to  be  studied,  and  taken  as  a  guide,  and 
not  worshipped  as  a  fetich.  Its  statements  are  not  to  be 
accepted  because  of  some  theory  of  inspiration,  but  be- 
cause the  facts  recorded  are  in  line  with  similar  ascer- 
tained facts  of  today  by  scientific  method.  It  is  the 
organized  experiences  of  good  and  bad  people,  for  encour- 
aging and  warning.  It  is  to  be  accepted  as  authority,  not 

[42] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  HISTORY 

from  a  single  statement  or  text,  but  from  the  general 
principles  of  Tightness  underlying  all  its  statements. 

This  history,  like  all  history,  is  to  be  regarded  not 
merely  as  a  record  of  happenings,  but  actually  as  a  study 
of  the  movement  of  great  principles  and  forces  lying  back 
of  the  phenomena  of  life,  as  they  crop  out  here  and  there 
in  some  upward  movement  and  its  climax.  These  usually 
center  about  some  nation  or  individual,  sometimes  giving 
the  impression  that  history  is  made  for  a  few  nations  or 
for  the  glorification  of  a  few  individuals.  If  history  is 
to  be  intelligently  read  the  attention  must  be  fixed,  not 
on  the  events  of  a  year,  a  lifetime,  or  even  centuries.  It 
can  be  read  aright  only  in  millenniums.  The  history  of 
the  given  generation  cannot  safely  be  written  for  at  least 
a  century  afterward.  The  history  of  the  Jewish  people 
can  be  read  and  understood  only  in  the  light  of  millen- 
niums, reaching  back  to  Moses,  to  Jacob  and  to  Abraham, 
and  can  be  accounted  for  on  no  other  ground  than  the 
worship  of  an  Almighty  Jehovah,  by  people  who  were 
His  chosen  elect  and  specially  privileged.  This  made  the 
Jew  the  miracle  of  history.  When  Abraham  was  a  small 
boy  playing  about  his  father's  tent,  millenniums  had 
passed  over  the  Chinese  people  whose  ancestor  worship 
made  John  Chinaman  the  same  peace-loving,  non-pro- 
gressive throughout  succeeding  millenniums. 

Thus  the  history  of  an  individual  or  a  race  is  read  in 
millenniums  of  the  past,  and  this  tremendous  span  of 
time  is  not  read  by  a  few  spectacular  items  or  persons, 
but  in  the  final  achievement,  just  as  the  life  of  an  indi- 

[43] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

vidual  does  not  consist  of  a  few  prominent  actions,  but  is 
to  be  interpreted  by  a  process  called  the  "logic  of  life," 
the  summing  up  of  all  his  actions  and  thoughts,  as  they 
have  obeyed  the  movement  of  the  Great  Divine  Impulse 
that  "worketh  in  him  both  to  will  and  to  do."  History 
is,  therefore,  the  record  of  the  expression  of  the  universal 
life,  in  all  its  forms  of  growth,  flower  and  fruitage. 

The  history  of  an  individual  must  begin  back  beyond 
all  material  worlds  in  that  Over  Soul,  the  Father  of 
Spirits,  the  Source  of  all  Life.  There  it  entered  into  all 
the  movements  of  the  Absolute  Life,  and  when  it  came 
forth  into  material  incarnation  it  brought  with  it  factors 
of  the  Divine  Nature  and  Character  which  have  outlived 
all  incarnations  and  rise  up  into  unutterable  longings  to 
return  to  its  Source.  This  is  the  "spirit  in  man  which 
the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty  hath  given  under- 
standing." 

The  first  steps  of  his  material  incarnation  must  be  read 
in  the  protoplasmic  forms  of  all  organic  life,  thence 
through  the  seven  great  stages  of  animal  evolution  in 
which  he  took  on  their  physical  and  mental  characteristics, 
traces  of  which  still  abide  with  him  after  he  has  taken  on 
the  human  form  and  is  "planted"  or  made  to  stand  upright 
in  his  earthly  Eden. 

His  record  must  be  read  through  all  those  ages  of  sav- 
agery, in  his  conflicts  with  animal  creation  from  which  he 
was  but  a  few  steps  removed.  In  the  struggles  to  preserve 
life,  his  constant  fears  and  alarms,  and  watchfulness 
against  surprise,  he  took  part  in  all  the  lives  of  his 

[44] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  HISTORY 

ancestral  strain,  and  at  last  came  up  to  savagery  and  to 
civilization  with  instincts  of  fear,  and  suspicion,  and  con- 
flict, all  of  which  enter  into  his  own  personal  incarnation. 

His  history  must  be  read  in  the  light  of  national  ideals, 
racial  prejudices,  tribal  characteristics,  and  family  traits. 
This  is  the  hereditary  setting  of  individual  history. 

Biography  enters  into  all  the  facts  of  environment, 
home,  school,  work,  love,  and  religion  as  they  affect  his 
personal  peculiarities  of  temperament.  His  relation  to 
these  issue  into  habits  of  action  and  thought,  which  even- 
tuate into  character.  And  character  is  the  honor  earned 
in  the  University  of  Hard  Knocks  in  which  he  struggles 
from  the  first  protoplasmic  cell  of  organic  life  until  that 
moment  when  he  lays  aside  the  temple  of  the  flesh,  and 
puts  on  the  vesture  of  Immortality. 

History  is  therefore  the  individual  collective  record  of 
living  souls,  each  of  whom  came  from  God,  under  the 
motive  of  finding  expression.  Each  bears  the  character- 
istic qualities  of  its  source,  who  is  Life,  Love-Truth, 
Goodness,  Power,  Beauty. 

Every  exercise  of  initiative  in  obeying  the  laws  of 
expression,  and  in  finding  variations  in  the  applications 
of  these  laws,  brings  results  which  make  up  the  sum 
of  living. 

All  the  experiences  of  loving  and  serving  are  additions 
to  his  personal  knowledge.  These  he  must  compare  with 
the  organized  experiences  of  all  the  past,  carefully  checking 
up  with  the  same,  yet  keeping  the  way  open  for  variations 

[45] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

of  experience  so  that  the  history  he  is  helping  to  make  shall 
be  an  advance  on  the  past. 

The  history  of  the  body  opens  with  the  sentence,  "Unto 
us  a  child  is  born."  It  closes  with  the  sentence,  "He  is 
gone."  The  history  of  the  Soul  is  in  countless  aeons  of 
time  when  it  came  out  of  the  bosom  of  the  Absolute  into 
material  form,  moved  up  through  all  creative  stages  of 
development,  learned  to  stand  upright,  learned  to  make 
intelligent  sounds,  found  symbols  for  their  expression, 
learned  to  make  fire,  and  invented  written  symbols  for 
his  ideas,  and  thus  achieved  personal  character,  which  is 
finally  made  into  the  likeness  of  the  Son  of  God,  then 
leaves  the  flesh  and  rises  into  the  Paradise  of  the  spiritual 
life.  The  coming  out  from  the  Father  of  Spirits  into 
flesh  records  the  "fall"  whose  memory  is  hinted  in  all  the 
traditions  of  the  past.  His  return  to  God  in  conscious 
oneness  is  his  rising  again.  And  the  facts  of  these  experi- 
ences are  woven  into  the  philosophy  of  History,  which  is  a 
record  of  the  unfolding  of  the  loving  purpose  of  God. 


[46] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  ANTHROPOLOGY 

THE  wise  man,  beholding  in  wonder  the  glories  of 
the  heavens,  and  the  economies  of  earth  all  ad- 
justed to  the  use  of  man  in  his  development,  asked, 
"What  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him?"  He  did 
not  forget  that  in  this  world  provision  was  made  for  all 
other  things,  but  they  were  secondary  to  the  interests  of 
man  (Anthropos — the  one  looking  upward),  for  he  alone 
was  capable  of  the  rational  use  and  appreciation  of  it  all. 
Then  he  answered  his  own  question,  "Thou  hast  made 
him  a  little  lower  than  God,  and  crowned  him  with  glory 
and  honor." 

Reading  the  traditions  and  myths  of  the  past,  man's 
origin  was  conceived  as  that  of  an  immediate  creation  at 
the  hand  of  God,  the  crown  and  splendor  of  all  creative 
action,  perfect  in  all  respects.  Then  came  the  story  of 
the  Fall,  to  account  for  his  present  condition.  Then 
began  the  process  of  his  recovery.  Such  is  the  brief  out- 
line of  tradition  accounting  for  man. 

Science,  reading  the  unimpeachable  records  written  in 
man's  body,  his  form,  organs,  and  features,  his  mental  and 
moral  nature,  all  bearing  the  marks  of  kinship  with  the 
animal  world,  has  answered  the  question  that  man  is  the 
climax  of  an  evolutionary  process  that  began  with  a  single 
cell,  in  which  the  Over  Soul  clothed  a  particle  of  Being 
with  material  form;  gave  it  the  power  of  multiplication 

[47] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

or  growth;  caused  it  to  unfold  upward  through  vast 
periods  of  time  by  selection  and  fitness,  until,  at  last,  man 
stepped  forth  from  the  rest  of  his  kind,  an  animal  looking 
upward,  and  standing  upright. 

Science  follows  his  history  from  animalism  to  savagery, 
thence  to  barbarism,  and  all  the  intermediate  steps  in 
which  he  slowly  left  his  animalism  behind,  and  finally 
reached  a  civilized  state. 

Science,  therefore,  places  the  period  when  the  step  up- 
ward from  an  animal  to  a  man  was  taken,  which  corre- 
sponds to  the  biblical  creation,  to  a  far  more  remote 
antiquity  than  that  indicated  by  the  records  of  tradition. 
The  traces  of  human  culture  and  high  states  of  civiliza- 
tion are  found  far  back  of  all  records.  Pictography  is 
the  earliest  intelligent  record.  Back  of  this  are  the 
implements  of  still  earlier  ages,  and  last  of  all  human 
remains  are  found  with  those  of  animals  of  a  long  for- 
gotten past  in  another  geological  period. 

Following  the  prehistoric  culture  came  the  pictures  and 
other  symbols  which  were  the  earliest  forms  of  record; 
then  signs  for  letters,  then  writing,  language,  the  family, 
the  clan,  the  tribe,  the  nation,  marriage  and  other  social 
origins,  all  indicating  an  evolutionary  process  of  vast 
periods  of  time.  The  force  of  all  these  teaching  facts  is 
that  somewhere  in  past  ages  life,  from  the  Source  of  all 
life,  began  to  express  itself  in  material  form,  and  that  the 
essence  of  this  life  principle  is  the  same,  whether  it  be  in 
protoplasm,  tadpole,  frog,  fish,  serpent,  animal  or  man. 
In  other  words,  the  unity  of  all  life  is  proven,  so  that 

[48] 


THE   COLLEGE  OF  ANTHROPOLOGY 

man's  origin  is  safely  posited  in  the  Absolute  Life  of  the 
universe. 

In  the  process  of  man's  development,  he  first  attains  a 
human  consciousness  through  whose  activities  he  realizes 
that  he  is  a  brother  to  the  race.  He  next  develops  cosmic 
consciousness,  in  which  he  is  a  brother  to  the  worm,  and 
all  living.  He  finally  develops  Divine  Consciousness,  by 
which  he  is  the  son  of  the  Absolute,  in  the  sense  that  he  is 
a  part  of  the  Universal  Being. 

A  scientific  study  of  the  body  reveals  the  indelible  marks 
of  his  animal  ancestry  in  some  forty  vestigial  remains  of 
organs  and  parts  for  which  he  no  longer  has  the  need 
which  their  original  use  supplied.  It  reveals  that  in  the 
lower  forms  of  life  automatic  and  reflex  movements  were 
in  the  ascendancy,  while  as  the  scale  of  intelligence  rises, 
these  decrease  and  volitional  actions  increase.  Further- 
more, in  man  himself  those  parts  of  his  body  least  con- 
trolled by  intelligent  volition,  as  the  vegetative  organs, 
are  most  richly  endowed  with  reflex  equipment,  while 
those  parts  of  the  body  equipped  for  motived  movement 
are  very  scantily  supplied  with  reflex  movements,  all  these 
facts  indicating  the  steady  movement  upward  to  the 
supremacy  of  mind  over  matter. 

Science  detects  the  traces  of  man's  emotional  and  mental 
life  in  the  lower  forms  of  life,  as  the  instinctive  power  of 
nest-building,  or  the  remarkable  structural  skill  seen  in  a 
honey  bee's  cell,  or  the  maternal  instincts  both  in  birds 
and  animals.  It  finds  his  intuitions,  his  instinctive  move- 
ments, many  of  his  emotions  and  his  animalism  of  mind 

[49] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

and  character  to  be  improvements  upon  similar  qualities 
in  his  more  humble  ancestors.  And  it  likewise  determines 
that  as  the  brain,  the  seat  of  the  higher  consciousness, 
develops,  the  altruistic  sentiments  arise,  the  arts  and 
sciences  develop,  and  the  higher  qualities  of  life  and 
character  are  in  the  ascendancy. 

Man's  earlier  surroundings  were  those  of  stress  and 
danger.  His  constant  effort  to  defend  his  life  and  his 
interests,  together  with  his  recent  emergence  from  animal- 
ism, made  fear  a  hereditary  feeling,  and  by  far  the  most 
powerful  and  elemental  emotion.  In  his  ignorance  of  the 
nature  and  laws  of  the  great  natural  forces  playing  upon 
him  and  about  him,  in  which  he  detected  some  seeming 
intelligence  or  method,  he  attributed  their  action  to  gods 
whom  he  constructed  in  his  own  image.  They  had  the 
same  selfish  passions  as  himself.  They  were  to  be  feared 
and  placated  by  any  and  every  means ;  hence,  the  first  gods 
to  arise  in  his  mind  were  fear  gods,  and  his  first  religion 
was  the  reverence  of  fear.  The  evolution  of  social  cus- 
toms growing  out  of  contact  with  his  fellows  resulted  in 
trust,  and  mutual  dependence  and  love,  until  the  gods  had 
become  the  gods  of  love,  while  religion  changed  to  the 
reverence  of  love.  Likewise  the  many  gods  whom  he 
esteemed  to  be  necessary  to  carry  on  the  various  interests 
of  the  universe,  gradually  were  merged  into  the  conception 
of  one  God,  and  his  faith  passed  from  polytheism  to 
monotheism. 

This  glimpse  of  the  headlines  of  human  development 
reassures  us  that  our  origin  is  in  the  Absolute  Being,  and 

[50] 


THE    COLLEGE  OF  ANTHROPOLOGY 

its  whole  movement  further  prophesies  that  our  destiny  is 
likewise  in  the  attainment  of  Universal  Consciousness. 
Furthermore,  that  the  process  of  evolution  is  the  chosen 
method  for  bringing  a  vast  number  of  life  expressions  into 
separate  existence,  giving  them  individuality,  which  is 
clothed  with  personality  or  character.  This  is  the  Infinite 
in  man,  and  if  he  would  know  the  Infinite  Who  is  the 
sum  of  all  finites,  plus,  he  must  learn  of  him  through  the 
Infinite  in  himself  and  others.  There  is  in  this  thought 
also  the  basis  of  universal  hope,  and  hence  a  warrant  for 
the  aspiration  to  highest  attainment,  for  in  science  there 
is  no  lost  energy  or  substance  or  life.  Some  expressions 
of  life  rise  more  rapidly  to  the  Infinite  standard,  it  is  true, 
by  a  vast  impelling  force  in  life,  but  that  same  truth 
guarantees  the  persistence  of  each  individual  expression 
until  its  highest  destiny  is  reached. 

To  describe  the  stress  under  which  progress  has  been 
made,  science  has  coined  such  an  expression  as  the  "sur- 
vival of  the  fittest,"  which  indicates  that  all  things  bearing 
upon  the  life,  the  character,  and  the  destiny  of  man,  and 
the  things  leading  up  to  man,  are  incorporated  into  a 
University  of  Hard  Knocks.  Its  curriculum  is  provided 
for  in  the  actual  causes  and  forces  embodied  in  the  ministry 
of  trial  and  trouble.  The  outcome  of  this  can  be  prophe- 
sied with  certainty,  for  its  results  have  been  written  in 
the  organized  experiences  of  humanity,  and  they  speak 
with  no  uncertain  testimony. 

Accepting  his  matriculation  gladly,  man  finds  himself 
allied  with  an  intelligence  in  whom  there  is  no  variable- 

[51] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

ness  nor  shadow  of  turning.  He  finds  himself  identified 
with  a  love  from  which  nothing  is  able  to  separate  him, 
and  eventually  he  discovers  that  all  the  qualities  of  the 
Infinite  are  perfectly  reflected  in  himself.  Then  he  has 
graduated,  for  he  has  found  the  goal  of  life. 


[52] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  ECONOMICS 

THE  basic  principle  of  economics  is  found  in  the 
unity  of  all  life,  and  in  the  solidarity  of  all  its 
contents  and  interests.  The  interests  of  the  indi- 
vidual are  included  in  the  larger  interests  of  the  com- 
munity. Those  in  turn  are  vested  in  the  State,  while 
those  of  the  State  are  held  in  trust  for  the  nation,  and  the 
nation's  interests  can  stand  fairly  only  in  their  relation  to 
all  peoples.  Just  as  the  State  holds  ultimate  right  to 
individual  holdings,  so  all  interests  of  all  nations  are 
vested  in  the  ultimate  wisdom  and  purpose  back  of  all 
life.  There  is,  therefore,  a  broad  fundamental  principle 
of  community  of  interest  in  all  things  classed  as  pos- 
sessions. 

In  the  processes  of  production  and  consumption  of 
material,  the  key-note  of  all  real  economic  progress  is 
co-operation.  Competition  may  stimulate  rivalry  and 
lead  to  greater  prominence  of  the  few,  but  it  ends  inev- 
itably in  needless  waste,  for  the  Ultimate  Intelligence  has 
decreed  that  moth  and  rust  and  profligate  sons  and  daugh- 
ters shall  work  to  bring  these  prominent  ones  back  toward 
the  level  of  common  interests. 

Economic  freedom  rests  upon  two  facts.  One  is  the 
individual's  ability  to  produce.  Full  consciousness  of  that 
ability  is  real  wealth.  The  other  is  an  equitable  distribu- 
tion of  the  results  of  this  applied  ability.  In  these  results 

[53] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

there  is  more  than  a  supply  for  all  legitimate  needs  of  all 
people.  Economic  freedom,  therefore,  is  conditioned  upon 
the  granting  to  others  all  the  rights  claimed  for  self,  and 
the  measure  of  freedom  is  in  exact  proportion  to  the 
mental  attitude  toward  others  and  their  rights.  Wealth 
further  consists  in  what  one  is  able  to  distribute  prudently, 
and  this  process  creates  a  reflex  supply,  on  the  principle  of 
"Give  and  it  shall  be  given  to  you  again."  This  is 
prefaced  by  the  understood  truth  that  you  have  already 
had  value  received.  The  eternal  principle  of  compensation 
demands  an  equitable  return,  which  either  has  already 
been  given  or  is  to  be  received.  Equitable  compensation 
given  and  required  is  the  stepping-stone  to  lasting  posses- 
sions. Therefore,  give  value  received.  Pay  as  you  come. 
Pay  as  you  go.  Do  not  pauperize.  Let  each  man  feel 
that  the  law  of  compensation  demands  an  adequate  return 
for  every  service.  It  is  an  unwritten  law,  but  a  universal 
proverb,  that  we  appreciate  that  for  which  we  give  an 
equitable  compensation,  and  the  obedience  to  that  law  is 
the  stepping-stone  to  material  freedom. 

The  right  to  consume  is  predicated  upon  the  fact  that 
it  has  been  earned.  He  who  receives  without  making 
compensation  is  a  loser  at  last.  Any  other  basis  of  action 
violates  the  law  of  compensation,  and  tends  to  pauperize 
the  consumer,  for  prosperity  is  what  one  is,  and  not  the 
abundance  of  things  which  he  possesses.  Apart  from  the 
happiness  and  satisfaction  in  their  use  material  resources 
have  no  abiding  value. 

Ownership   rests   upon   the   conception   of    the   owner 

[54] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF   ECONOMICS 

being  a  custodian  of  public  resources,  which  office  carries 
the  right  to  one's  quota  of  supply,  and  the  obligation  of 
stewardship  in  seeing  that  others  have  their  quota.  Just 
as  economy  of  personal  energy  demands  the  laying  up  of 
a  reserve  for  further  service  in  living,  so  economy  of 
material  resources  is  an  obligation  to  conserve  a  reserve 
supply  for  the  practice  of  altruism. 

The  race  that  is  recognized  as  the  most  thrifty  of  all 
peoples  was  schooled  by  Jehovah  in  the  principle  of  the 
divine  ownership  of  the  land  and  all  that  the  land  could 
produce.  Of  the  land  he  was  the  tenant;  of  the  produce 
he  was  the  steward.  The  custody  of  these  was  committed 
to  him  as  his  right  because  of  his  relationship  to  the  Most 
High,  and  because  no  high  degree  of  civilization  was 
possible  apart  from  some  form  of  individual  ownership. 
This  ownership  was  safeguarded  by  two  facts.  The  first 
was:  "It  is.  He  that  giveth  thee  power  to  get  wealth"; 
the  other  was  that  it  was  held  in  trust  for  others.  The 
gift  of  stewardship  is  as  sacred  as  the  gift  of  prophecy, 
and  sometimes  more  immediately  practical. 

The  secret  of  abundance  still  rests  in  an  understanding 
of  vital  oneness  and  harmony  with  the  All-abundance,  and 
there  is  given  us  a  sure  method  of  realizing  it.  It  is,  "Be 
diligent  in  business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord." 
Two  counts  of  the  three  conditions  of  success  in  this  great 
formula  of  success  have  to  do  with  what  the  person  is, 
rather  than  what  he  has.  Riches  of  personal  character 
bring  contentment,  and  also  attract  material  prosperity. 

[55] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

That  service  which  is  most  freely  and  abundantly  given 
is  the  key  to  opulence,  for  it  reacts  upon  him  who  gives  it. 

The  laws  of  supply  and  demand  automatically  adjust 
the  two  sides  of  the  equation  in  all  economic  questions. 
The  demand  clearly  recognized  will  find  that  the  supply 
is  at  hand.  We  receive  what  we  are  really  looking  for, 
with  clear  recognition  of  its  source,  and  acceptance  of  its 
conditions.  Abundance  and  want  are  largely  creatures  of 
our  own  suggestion.  Most  of  the  world's  poverty  rests 
upon  the  highly  suggestive  heresy  that  there  isn't  enough 
to  go  round,  while  in  the  Father's  house  there  is  in  reality 
an  abundance  and  to  spare. 

The  principle  of  value  rests  upon  the  utility,  durability, 
and  quality  of  a  given  resource. 

The  tiller  of  the  soil  is  a  producer  of  elementary 
resources  which  furnish  the  materials  for  progress.  The 
builder  organizes  these  materials  into  forms  of  utility. 
The  educator  is  a  developer  of  latent  mental  resources 
which  are  more  valuable  and  lasting  than  material  ones. 
The  spiritual  teacher  is  a  producer  of  the  highest  of  all 
resources,  for  spiritual  qualities  are  the  fundamental  and 
everlasting  standards  of  value.  Economics  must  therefore 
recognize  that  all  values,  whether  they  be  called  material, 
mental  or  spiritual,  come  within  the  scope  of  its  provision 
for  governing  their  production,  use,  and  distribution. 

The  most  stupendous  loss  of  the  race  is  not  brought 
about  by  disease  or  even  by  war,  but  is  found  in  the 
undeveloped  mental  and  spiritual  forces  in  the  individual, 
and  collectively  in  the  nation. 

[56] 


THE  COLLEGE   OF   ECONOMICS 

Economics  has  to  do  therefore  with  man's  temporal 
well-being  in  the  widest  sense.  It  refers  not  only  to 
material  production,  distribution,  and  consumption,  but 
to  all  the  conditions  of  organized  society  as  they  are 
advanced  or  retarded  by  the  use  or  misuse  of  the  resources 
entering  into  social  life. 

Primal  among  these  resources  is  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation,  and  next  to  it  comes  the  creative  impulse 
and  power,  an  economical  and  wise  use  of  which  peoples 
the  earth  with  an  ever  increasing  population  of  an  ever 
advancing  type.  It  equips  them  with  instruments  and 
implements  for  a  steadily  growing  mastery  of  all  life 
forces,  whether  they  be  physical,  mental  or  spiritual. 

Lack  of  economical  rule  in  the  direction  and  expression 
of  this  impulse  results  in  waste  in  the  forms  of  lust, 
disease,  race-suicide,  defective  children,  fractional  adults, 
and  in  drink,  drugs,  and  the  instruments  of  destruction 
and  butchery  as  are  found  in  modern  warfare.  No  amount 
of  denial  of  the  evil  of  these  things  will  change  them. 
Only  a  return  to  the  practice  of  justice  and  right,  and 
other  ethical  qualities  in  economics  can  stop  the  waste, 
and  make  "the  desert  places  blossom  as  the  rose." 

Economics  is  still  further  concerned  with  the  proper 
use  of  the  individual's  own  vital  forces,  challenging  his 
right,  for  his  own  or  others'  sake,  to  waste  them  by 
needless  indulgence  or  by  such  selfish  hoarding  as  comes 
from  a  philosophy  of  egoism  whose  endless  monotony 
results  at  last  in  frazzled  nerves,  abnormal  ideas,  and 
functional  disorders,  all  of  which  reduce  his  efficiency. 

[57] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

As  the  only  remedy  economics  proposes  an  altruistic 
activity  whose  variety  and  diversion  tends  to  preserve 
normality  of  mind  and  body,  and  so  conserve  the  energies 
for  the  highest  ends.  The  warrant  for  this  "seeking  each 
another's  welfare"  is  found  in  the  Master's  summary  of 
the  law,  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  This 
is  at  once  ego-altruistic,  and  is  the  key  to  the  highest 
welfare  of  the  race. 

The  increasing  practice  of  celibacy  among  men  and 
women  diverts  the  movement  of  creative  energy  from 
social  to  personal  and  selfish  ends,  and  threatens  the  social 
economy  of  the  world.  To  be  sure,  there  are  those  who 
have  sublimated  their  creative  forces  by  using  them  in 
some  form  of  creative  productiveness  for  the  social  good, 
such  as  a  great  book,  a  work  of  art,  an  organization,  or 
the  perfection  of  a  noble  ideal,  and  these  are  justified  by 
the  law  of  economics.  But  to  choose  the  way  of  celibacy 
for  the  purpose  of  evading  the  obligations  of  the  social 
order  places  one  in  the  ranks  of  the  violators  of  the  law 
of  economics,  and  inevitably  assigns  him  to  that  class  who 
"are  poor  indeed." 

The  growing  belief  in  "birth  control,"  resulting  in 
fewer  children  to  the  people  who  by  virtue  of  superb 
physical,  mental  and  moral  endowment  are  best  fitted  to 
produce  them,  holds  a  subtle  danger.  It  lies  in  the 
question  as  to  whether  the  belief  is  fostered  and  practiced 
from  these  high  and  altruistic  motives  or  rather  to  evade 
the  inconveniences  and  disabilities  which  attend  the  carry- 
ing out  of  full  obligation  to  society.  It  certainly  gives 

[58] 


THE  COLLEGE   OF   ECONOMICS 

pause  to  the  thoughtful  to  see  at  the  same  time  action  of 
the  unrestricted  fecundity  of  the  less  fitted,  whose  progeny 
seem  unlimited.  Only  clear  and  positive ^  teaching  and 
practice  can  keep  the  standard  from  moving  downward 
until  it  becomes  a  menace  to  the  economics  of  the  social 
order. 

Only  the  most  careful  study  and  application  of  the  laws 
of  economics  in  the  University  of  Hard  Knocks  can 
steadily  reduce  and  finally  eliminate  the  criminal  class, 
the  defectives  of  every  sort,  and  people  the  world  with 
people  who  are  made  in  the  image  and  who  demonstrate 
that  image  through  unselfish  service. 

The  practice  of  these  economic  principles  will  graduate 
the  student  in  the  University  of  Hard  Knocks  into  the 
possession  of  and  the  mastery  over  material  possessions, 
and  into  the  more  lasting  values  to  be  found  in  the  under- 
standing of  mental  and  spiritual  power. 


[59] 


Right  is  the  seed  within  the  sod 

That  knows  not  who,  but  thro'  the  clod 
Uplifts  itself  to  seek  for  God. 

Right  is  the  impulse  of  the  soul 

That  stirs  through  all  the  sense  control 
Insisting  on  a  nobler  goal. 

Whatever  helps  you  to  the  height 

Of  your  best  self,  and  gives  you  light, 
To  see  God's  truth — that  thing  is  right. 

—Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox 


[60] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PSYCHOLOGY 

PSYCHOLOGY — THE    SCIENCE   OF   THE   MIND;   THE    STUDY 
OF    THE    SELF 

THE  method  is  to  gather  the  experiences  of  the  race, 
and  out  of  them  formulate  the  laws  of  mental  ac- 
tivity. Certain  terms  constantly  recur  in  the  study. 

The  spirit  of  man  is  the  Divine  Life  as  it  came  from 
God — the  Absolute  Spirit,  sometimes  called  the  super- 
conscious  or  divine  mind. 

The  soul  is  the  undivided  self.  It  is  the  spirit  over- 
laid with  the  influences  and  effects  of  material  incarnation 
and  evolution. 

The  mind  is  the  dual  expression  of  the  soul  in  con- 
scious and  unconscious  activity. 

The  body  is  the  instrument  of  the  mind  through  which 
it  acts  upon  the  material  world  and  by  which  it  is  reacted 
upon  by  material  things. 

The  activities  of  the  mind  are  included  in  the  term 
consciousness  which  includes  both  conscious  and  uncon- 
scious processes.  The  main  elements  of  consciousness  are 
known  as  Cognition,  Feeling,  and  Will.  Cognition  and 
Will  face  outward,  and  are  the  channels  of  perception 
through  which  the  soul  knows  material  states,  while  Feel- 
ing faces  inward,  whereby  the  soul  may  know  itself.  These 

[61] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

overlap  and  are  inseparable.  If  Cognition  predominates 
we  have  the  coldly  intellectual.  If  Feeling  predominates 
we  have  the  emotional  types.  If  Will  predominates  we 
have  the  types  of  leadership  and  personal  force. 

The  body  influences  the  mind  in  that  it  is  the  mind's 
instrument.  The  point  of  contact  is  the  brain  and  nervous 
system.  Pressure  on  a  nerve  by  impingement  of  the  bones 
or  contraction  of  the  muscles  cuts  off  the  motor  nerve 
supply  and  causes  functional  disorder,  because  the  control 
of  the  mind  is  impaired.  Poor  breathing  leaves  the  blood 
loaded  with  carbon-dioxide  which  renders  the  brain  slug- 
gish and  thought  power  is  reduced.  Lack  of  exercise  slows 
up  the  liver  and  allows  the  blood  from  the  portal  circula- 
tion loaded  with  poisons  to  pass  back  into  the  circulation, 
poisoning  the  brain  and  depressing  mental  activity.  These 
and  many  other  physical  conditions  impair  the  mechanism 
through  which  thought  finds  outward  expression.  If  the 
instrument  is  unstrung  harmony  is  destroyed  and  the 
music  becomes  discord. 

THE   MIND   INFLUENCES    THE    BODY 

First:  Objectively  and  consciously,  by  directing  its 
movements  and  activities,  and  determining  the  materials 
with  which  it  shall  be  built  and  renewed. 

Second:  Subjectively  and  unconsciously,  by  directing  all 
its  functional  processes,  and  reporting,  classifying  and 
controlling  all  its  sensations.  Intense  mental  concentra- 
tion, over-anxiety,  such  emotions  as  fear,  worry,  anger  and 
nervous  shocks  through  bad  news,  etc.,  act  first  on  the 

[62] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PSYCHOLOGY 

conscious,  then  on  the  unconscious  side  of  mental  life, 
landing  in  the  sympathetic  nervous  system,  locking  up  the 
innumerable  reflexes  of  the  organs,  or  over-stimulating 
them,  and  thus  cause  a  great  many  serious  derangements 
of  the  body.  The  converse  is  true,  that  right  thinking 
and  normal  emotional  states  keep  all  the  functional  ac- 
tivities in  vigorous  and  healthy  condition  when  the 
physical  laws  are  obeyed. 

The  conscious  side  of  mental  activity  begins  after  birth. 
It  is  developed  to  enable  the  soul  to  find  its  way  safely 
through  the  earthly  labyrinth.  It  is  the  architect  of  the 
body,  mind  and  character. 

The  unconscious  activities  are  present  with  the  first 
cell  with  which  our  bodies  start.  The  unconscious  fashions 
and  forms  our  bodies  according  to  a  plan  carried  over  in 
consciousness  from  our  ancestors.  It  renews  our  bodies 
with  the  materials  that  are  consciously  furnished  it.  It  is 
the  builder  and  renewer  of  the  body. 

The  conscious  activities  arise  in  reason.  The  uncon- 
scious activities  arise  in  suggestion,  by  affirmation  or  im- 
plication. 

The  mind  also  acts  and  reacts  upon  itself.  The  steady 
assertion  of  having  a  strong  will  or  a  perfect  memory, 
tends  to  produce  a  strong  will  and  a  good  memory,  while 
such  statements  as  "I  am  losing  my  memory  or  will 
power,"  tends  to  weaken  them.  Affirmations  of  this  kind 
made  to  others  will  prove  helpful  and  will  react  upon 
the  one  affirming  them.  All  the  mental  powers  like  will, 

[63] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

memory,  reason  and  judgment,  gain  strength  by  being 
called  into  action,  just  as  a  muscle  grows  strong  by  being 
exercised.  Every  appeal  to  turn  aside  from  a  chosen  plan 
of  action  is  a  test — a  temptation,  which,  yielded  to, 
weakens  the  will  and  the  character,  but  denied,  strengthens 
the  will  and  beautifies  character. 

Out  of  human  experience  there  have  been  formulated 
standards  of  action  for  all  the  mental  and  spiritual 
faculties.  These  followed  slavishly  destroy  all  initiative, 
while  disregarded  entirely  they  expose  the  doer  to  all  sorts 
of  bad  results.  Followed  as  general  landmarks,  leaving 
freedom  for  personal  initiative  and  action  they  result  in 
the  highest  attainable  effect. 

Meeting  and  solving  the  great  problems  of  life  as  con- 
tained in  philosophy,  science  and  art,  gives  added  power 
to  every  mental  faculty;  wrestling  with  the  problem  of 
what  is  best  for  self  and  others  and  then  doing  the  best, 
issues  in  strength  and  moral  character;  seeking  to  know 
and  fulfill  all  relationships  with  the  spirit,  back  of  all 
these  gives  spirituality. 

Continued  action  of  a  given  sort  forms  a  habit  of  ac- 
tion. Continued  thinking  in  certain  ways  results  in 
thought  habits.  Continued  dwelling  of  the  mind  upon  a 
single  thing  until  it  is  ever  uppermost  in  consciousness, 
produces  a  fixed  idea.  Allowing  the  imagination  to  dwell 
on  and  clothe  this  fixed  idea  with  unusual  power  and 
effects,  will  end  in  an  obsession.  Constantly  dwelling  on 
imaginary  things  will  tend  to  produce  an  hallucination, 

[64] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PSYCHOLOGY 

while  allowing  yourself  to  think  that  the  world  is  run  by 
chance  and  whim  will  eventually  cause  the  mind  to  drift 
into  any  sort  of  a  phobia.  Turn  the  mind  to  behold  law, 
and  order,  and  wisdom  under  the  direction  of  an  Ab- 
solute Mind,  and  all  these  mental  errors  will  end. 

The  psychology  of  pleasure  has  never  been  formulated. 
When  the  engine  is  running  smoothly  and  cool,  and  all 
the  cylinders  are  firing,  tanks  are  full  and  distributors  all 
working,  and  the  car  hums  along,  the  motorist  surrenders 
to  the  joy  of  movement.  But  let  something  go  wrong — 
a  spark  plug  or  cylinder  get  fouled  with  carbon,  or  the 
radiator  get  to  boiling,  or  a  queer  knock  start  up,  and  the 
car  is  stopped,  the  joy  clothes  are  laid  aside  and  the  ma- 
chinist begins  to  explore  for  the  cause  of  the  trouble. 
He  knows  that  it  is  caused  by  something  he  has  negelected 
and  he  usually  berates  himself  for  not  attending  to  it. 

When  the  mind  is  clear  and  the  spirit  is  joyous  and 
the  body  is  filled  with  vigor  and  energy  and  comfort,  man 
goes  forth  with  the  very  joy  of  living.  He  knows  that  it 
is  the  result  of  careful  living,  and  he  finds  satisfaction  in 
doing  the  things  that  give  him  such  satisfaction.  But  if 
his  spirit  is  clouded  and  his  mind  sluggish  and  heavy,  and 
his  body  filled  with  pain  and  discomfort,  he  knows  that  it 
is  the  result  of  neglect  of  the  simple  laws  of  body  and 
mind.  He  begins  to  analyze  the  situation  that  he  may  find 
the  exact  cause,  and  he  usually  finds  its,  and  begins  to 
make  things  worse  by  blaming  himself  and  pitying  him- 
self, instead  of  resolutely  setting  to  work  to  do  the  things 
that  will  right  the  wrong  conditions. 

[65] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

Self-introspection  is  about  the  worst  thing  he  can  do, 
yet  he  proceeds  to  analyze  every  act  and  every  motive  until 
the  mind  is  so  rilled  with  these  elements  of  self-analysis 
that  he  cannot  turn  to  thinking  and  doing  those  construc- 
tive things  that  would  restore  him  to  normal.  The  anal- 
ysis should  be  made  by  someone  else  and  should  not 
magnify  details,  and  should  be  aimed  at  finding  and  setting 
to  rights  the  wrong  mental  state. 

The  mental  cure  for  wrong  habits  of  action  is  to  choose 
a  correct  action  and  repeat  it  until  it  becomes  a  habit 
which  replaces  the  bad  one.  Wrong  thought  habits  are 
righted  by  persistently  thinking  of  right  things.  "What- 
soever things  are  good,  pure,  true,"  etc.,  "think  on  these 
things."  Unfix  that  fixed  idea  ,by  resolutely  turning  your 
attention  to  other  things.  Get  rid  of  your  obsessions  and 
hallucinations  by  making  your  thoughts  and  imaginations 
line  up  with  those  of  healthy,  normal  people. 

The  first  great  mental  law  of  activity  and  growth  is 
to  avoid  monotony.  Mental  normality  depends  on  varia- 
tion. The  monotonous  drip  of  water,  the  tick  of  a  clock, 
the  repetition  of  an  idea,  the  monotone  of  a  voice,  all  tend 
to  suspend  mental  activity,  and  produce  a  state  resembling 
sleep.  Diversion  of  the  mind  to  other  thoughts,  to  other 
activities,  and  to  the  welfare  of  other  people  is  the  only 
way  to  keep  from  being  mentally  smothered  with  selfish- 
ness. 

Let  the  mind  dwell  upon  the  world  of  nature,  its  life, 
its  growth,  its  color,  music,  beauty  and  peace.  Meditate 

[66] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PSYCHOLOGY 

upon  the  world  of  people,  their  thoughts,  feelings,  aims 
and  achievements.  Cultivate  altruism.  Direct  the  track 
of  mental  vision  upward. 

The  spirit  of  man  finds  its  completeness  in  oneness  of 
purpose  and  character  with  the  Absolute,  in  other  words, 
in  spiritual  consciousness. 

The  soul  finds  its  rest  in  harmony  with  other  souls  or 
cosmic  consciousness. 

The  mind  finds  rest  in  the  thought  world  of  thinking 
beings  or  mental  consciousness. 

The  body  finds  normal  health  when  it  is  in  harmony 
with  the  laws  of  the  universe  of  which  it  is  a  part. 

Life  finds  its  goal  of  perfection  here  in  that  harmony 
which  comes  through  the  attainment  and  supremacy  of 
spiritual  consciousness.  "The  words  that  I  speak  and  the 
works  I  do  are  not  Mine  but  the  Father's."  Identify 
yourself  with  the  purposes  and  aims  of  the  Unlimited 
Intelligence  and  Goodness,  so  that  you  have  a  specific 
part  and  place,  then  act  the  part  and  fill  the  place. 

Just  as  the  eye  is  at  rest  on  the  furthest  point  of  vision, 
so  the  mind  is  at  rest  when  it  is  contemplating  things 
furthest  removed  from  self.  Self-introspection  is  the 
most  difficult  and  thankless  of  all  self-appointed  tasks. 
Leave  it  to  others. 

The  greatest  thought  possible  is  that  of  the  Absolute 
Being,  and  to  calmly  and  trustfully  turn  the  mind  toward 
Him  is  to  find  perfect  peace  and  rest.  The  value  of 
religious  meditation,  therefore,  is  that  it  keeps  the  atten- 

[67] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

tion  of  the  mind  away  from  the  body,  and  gives  the  health 
forces  a  chance  to  build  and  keep  it  well.  This  is  aside 
from  the  fact  that  the  power  of  a  suggestion  is  measured 
by  the  estimated  value  of  the  truth  dwelt  upon,  and  by 
the  greatness  of  the  personality  speaking  it. 

The  psychological  lessons  to  be  learned  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Hard  Knocks  are  many.  The  cardinal  ones  are: 

Don't  worry!  Like  a  rocking  chair  worry  gives  a  vast 
amount  of  agitation  and  no  progress.  Get  the  calmness  of 
trust  and  move  forward.  Close  the  mental  door  in  the 
face  of  such  callers  as  depression,  "the  blues,"  and  melan- 
choly. These  are  all  states  of  vacuity.  The  sky  is  blue 
only  where  there  is  nothing  in  sight.  Fill  your  mind  with 
stars  of  hope;  people  it  with  great  resolves  and  ideals. 
Take  a  vigorous  walk;  breathe  deeply;  wake  your  solar 
plexus;  oxygenate  your  brain;  do  the  Nebuchadnezzar 
walk  to  wake  up  your  liver  and  portal  circulation;  get 
busy  helping  some  one  else  and  your  "blue  devils"  will 
go  out  into  the  abyss  not  to  return.  Replace  your  fear 
with  love.  Count  your  blessings  and  forget  the  other 
things.  Believe  your  beliefs  and  doubt  your  doubts.  Talk 
about  your  beliefs  and  keep  still  about  your  doubts,  and 
you  will  soon  dwell  in  the  land  of  beliefs  and  of  reality. 
Avoid  anger,  hatred,  envy  and  jealousy  as  you  would  the 
plague.  Eliminate  self-pity  and  self -blame.  It  makes  your 
trouble  two-story.  Live  in  the  sweet  NOW  AND  NOW.  Do 
the  task  in  hand.  Every  day  is  a  new  beginning.  Let 
there  be  no  yesterday  nor  tomorrow.  Lift  the  corners  of 

[68] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PSYCHOLOGY 

your  mouth.  Keep  smiling.  Do  not  blame  others.  They 
did  not  understand — maybe  they  could  not.  Forgive  them 
and  love  them,  and — leave  them  off  your  calling  list  until 
they  can  understand.  You  cannot  get  along  with  every- 
body— the  Master  did  not.  It  is  best  to  keep  most  people 
at  arm's  length.  Your  friendship  would  be  more  lasting. 
Walk  with  God.  Keep  step — right,  left,  forward — 
march ! 


[69] 


Our  birth  is  but  a  sleep  and  a  forgetting — 

The  soul  that  rises  with  us,  our  life  star, 
Hath  had  elsewhere  its  setting, 

And  cometh  from  afar. 
Not  in  entire  forgetfulness, 

And  not  in  utter  nakedness, 
But  trailing  clouds  of  glory  do  we  come, 

From  God,  who  is  our  home. 

— Wm.  Wordsworth. 


[70] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

PHILOSOPHY  is  unavoidable.  Every  normal  child  is 
a  walking  interrogation  point.  Every  man  is  a 
philosopher.  He  begins  by  distinguishing  between 
that  which  is  self  and  the  not-self.  He  progresses  by 
asking  such  questions  as: 

What  is  man  ? 

What  are  his  faculties  and  powers? 

Whence  did  he  come? 

Whither  is  he  going? 

How  shall  he  guide  himself  ? 

What  is  the  vast  universe  around  him? 

How  did  it  arise  ? 

How  is  it  ordered  and  maintained  ? 

What  is  man's  relation  to  it,  and  to  the  great  Power 
behind  the  veil,  manifested  in  wondrous  movements  and 
changes  ? 

What  is  the  nature  of  this  Power? 

What  are  his  duties  toward  it,  toward  himself  and 
toward  his  fellows? 

What  knowledge  of  these  can  he  acquire  ? 

What  are  his  duties  and  aids  for  their  achievement? 

These,  and  like  questions,  indicate  the  province  of 
philosophy.  They  are  so  vital  that  every  rational  mind 
engages  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  about  some  or  all 
of  them. 

[71] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

When  the  scientific  method  has  gathered  a  mass  of 
correlated  facts  concerning  any  of  these  topics,  and  has 
indicated  the  law  of  their  expression,  philosophy  is  at 
once  summoned  to  construct  a  purpose  and  an  end,  and 
out  of  these  constructive  processes  we  have  natural, 
mental,  moral,  spiritual  and  countless  other  philosophies. 
Every  imaginable  topic  reveals  an  aptitude  for  philosophic 
treatment,  and  furnishes  a  basis  for  some  special  philos- 
ophy. It  is,  therefore,  logical  to  seek  for  some  general 
principle  underlying  all  and  common  to  all,  and  binding 
them  together  into  an  unity,  such  as  is  found  in  the 
statement,  "By  Whom  all  things  were  made  and  by  Whom 
they  consist." 

Philosophy,  therefore,  begins  with  the  reason  and  end 
of  countless  things.  It  concludes  with  an  ultimate  reason 
for  all  things.  It  begins  with  loving  pursuit  after 
knowledge.  It  ends  with  the  apprehension  of  eternal  and 
unchanging  verities. 

Philosophy  following  this  method  brings  us  to  the  Ulti- 
mate Truth— God  is  the  One  Reality,  out  of  Whose 
spiritual  substance  all  things  have  been  made.  He  is  the 
One  Life  of  Whom  all  living  forms  partake.  The  mate- 
rial universe  is  the  organism  through  which  He  expresses 
Himself,  just  as  man's  body  is  the  organism  for  his 
expression.  His  universe  is  ordered  and  maintained  by 
His  divine  energy,  working  through  chosen  methods  under 
the  direction  of  His  Will. 

Man's  relation  to  God  is  twofold.  His  body  is  material 
and  is  subject  to  the  laws  of  matter.  "Dust  thou  art." 

[72] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

The  real  self  is  an  expression  of  the  Life  of  God.  He  is 
partaker  of  the  divine  nature;  is  subject  to  the  laws  of 
spiritual  Being;  has  the  possibilities  of  the  divine  Char- 
acter. "In  the  likeness  of  God  created  He  him."  When 
the  ends  of  life  have  been  achieved,  "his  spirit  returns  to 
God  Who  gave  it." 

The  relation  of  God  to  all  material  things  is  that  of 
immanence.  He  indwells  in  all  things.  Man's  relation 
to  Him  is  inherent  oneness,  and  is  best  expressed  in  the 
term  sonship. 

The  method  of  the  world's  creation  is  an  evolutionary 
process.  Life  itself  in  its  material  expression  is  an  evolu- 
tion, from  a  cell  up  through  all  the  countless  forms  of 
life  to  man  himself,  who  alone  is  capable  of  fully  express- 
ing in  a  human  personality  the  qualities  of  the  divine 
Character. 

In  the  evolutionary  process  man  lived  in  the  lives  of 
all  his  ancestors,  receiving  from  them  physical,  mental 
and  moral  characteristics,  which  have  been  impressed  upon 
his  spirit.  To  eliminate  these  marks  and  influences  of 
animalism  and  savagery,  and  to  rise  to  the  power  of 
spiritual  vision  so  that  he  can  discern  the  changeless  reality 
of  the  spirit,  and  also  learn  the  changing  unreality  of 
matter,  so  that  he  may  live  "not  after  the  flesh  but  after 
the  spirit,"  and  thus  attain  to  that  mastery  which  is  the 
pre-eminent  mark  of  the  divine  Image,  is  his  task.  For 
his  guidance  in  material  things  his  objective  reason  and 
judgment  are  developed  for  this  stage  of  his  existence. 
For  his  moral  and  spiritual  guidance  the  Eternal  reason 

[73] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

within  him  is  the  final  authority  as  to  his  moral  action 
and  spiritual  growth.  For  his  assistance  spiritual  science 
has  developed  certain  great  ideals  which  he  may  follow 
until  by  an  inner  assimilative  process  he  is  clothed  with 
the  brightness  of  spiritual  glory  and  the  express  image  of 
the  divine  person. 

To  reach  these  ideals  philosophy  has  developed  certain 
rules  of  conduct  in  relation  to  his  fellows,  to  his  sur- 
roundings, to  himself,  and  to  God,  which  human  experi- 
ence has  proven  to  make  for  moral  character.  These 
experiences  are  incorporated  into  certain  great  statements 
found  in  the  Bible  and  other  sacred  books. 

It  has  furnished  him  with  rules  for  physical  health,  the 
keeping  of  which  shall  make  his  physical  life  an  open 
channel  through  which  the  unspoilable  health  shall  flow. 

It  has  discovered  to  him  the  scope  of  his  mental  powers, 
their  almost  unlimited  possibilities,  and  the  supreme  end 
of  the  mastery  of  all  things,  by  the  mastery  of  self. 

It  holds  before  him  for  spiritual  guidance  such  rules  of 
spiritual  activity  as  faith,  hope,  love,  prayer,  confession, 
forgiveness,  and  absolution,  and  aids  him  in  their  enforce- 
ment by  the  example  in  every  age  of  some  super-man,  or 
divinely  illumined  one,  like  Enoch  who  "walked  with 
God";  like  Abraham  who  "was  a  friend  of  God";  like 
Moses  who  "talked  with  God";  and  like  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, Who  "thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God." 

Imitating  these  examples  in  his  effort  to  meet  the 
ceaseless  demands  of  life,  man  finds  himself  becoming  like 
them.  The  hereditary  influences  in  him  are  constantly 

[74] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

being  appealed  to  by  the  things  about  him,  the  yielding  to 
which  causes  him  to  "miss  the  mark"  of  high  attainment, 
and  if  repeated  causes  him  to  live  in  a  state  of  human- 
consciousness,  called  "the  law  of  sin  and  death,"  with  its 
attendant  pain,  ills  and  troubles.  It  is  his  right  to  live  in 
Divine-Consciousness  by  resisting  the  appeals  of  the  senses, 
and  by  obeying  "the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  and  so  be  free  from  these  hindrances. 

The  effort  to  resist  the  impulses  of  the  flesh  and  to 
recover  from  their  effects  when  he  yields,  opens  to  him  the 
full  curriculum  of  the  University  of  Hard  Knocks. 


[75] 


All  are  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole, 
Whose  body  nature  is,  and  God  the  soul. 

— Pope 


[76] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  MEDICINE 

DIS-EASE  is  the  lack  of  ease.  It  may  arise  from 
without  or  from  conditions  within.  Germs  from 
the  outside  find  soil  in  the  body  for  lodgment  and 
set  up  a  great  variety  of  diseases.  The  bacilli  of  tuber- 
culosis can  find  enlodgment  only  in  an  under-nourished 
body ;  small-pox  can  find  a  foothold  only  in  impure  blood  ; 
ptomaines  can  thrive  only  in  an  acid  condition  of  the 
secretions  of  the  digestive  tract,  and  so  on  through  a  list 
of  ills.  Every  one  of  these  conditions  is  the  result  of 
violating  the  laws  of  health — sin  against  the  body  or  the 
mind — for  undernourished  conditions  may  arise  not  only 
from  lack  of  proper  food,  but  from  lack  of  assimilation 
through  a  high  tension  of  mental  states,  and  from  neglect 
of  proper  exercise.  Acidity  may  be  caused  not  only 
by  the  food  one  eats,  but  by  nervous  tension,  anxiety,  fears 
and  jealousy.  Thus  it  will  be  found  that  most  of  our 
ills  can  be  traced  to  some  violation  of  the  law;  hence  the 
first  step  to  recovery  is  to  "cease  to  do  evil" — stop  violat- 
ing the  law — then  "learn  to  do  well" — begin  to  keep 
the  law. 

Chemistry  following  the  scientific  method  of  noting  the 
properties  of  elementary  and  compound  substances,  and 
formulating  the  laws  of  their  atomic  relations,  has  found 
certain  agents  with  a  specific  action  on  the  human  system 
for  remedial  purposes,  as,  for  instance :  aconite  in  the  case 

[77] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

of  fevers;  quinine  in  combating  malaria;  thymol  in  eradi- 
cating hookworm. 

Physiological  and  biological  chemistry  finds  the  presence 
of  certain  chemical  properties  in  various  bodily  secretions 
in  healthy  and  in  diseased  conditions,  and  sets  about  to 
find  material  chemical  agents  with  corrective  value.  This 
knowledge  is  standardized  not  only  by  the  knowledge  of 
the  chemical  action  of  an  agent  upon  a  given  material 
substance,  but  also  by  endless  experimentation,  both  on 
animals  and  on  human  beings. 

In  like  manner  emotional  chemistry,  still  in  its  infancy, 
is  slowly  but  surely  determining  that  certain  emotional 
states  resulting  from  mental  and  spiritual  activity  or  in- 
dolence, have  a  marked  and  specific  influence  upon  the 
chemical  character  of  bodily  secretions,  hence  upon  the 
nervous  system,  and  finally  upon  functional  activities. 

Physiology  reveals  that  the  body  is  filled  with  certain 
forms  of  automatic  activity,  called  reflexes,  which  orig- 
inate and  carry  out  specific  movements  without  any  direct 
communication  to  the  brain  or  command  from  it.  These 
may  act  from  purely  physical  stimuli,  as,  for  instance, 
percussion  of  the  patella  reflex  makes  the  foot  kick  for- 
ward, or  percussion  of  the  seventh  cervical  vertebra  slows 
the  heart's  action,  or  percussion  of  the  fifth  dorsal  causes 
the  pyloric  end  of  the  stomach  to  lower  and  expand, 
emptying  its  contents  into  the  duodenum.  There  are 
other  reflexes  connected  with  these  same  organs,  having 
an  opposite  effect. 

[78] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  MEDICINE 

The  functional  activity  of  all  these  organs  is  controlled 
and  may  be  altered  by  these  reflexes.  Spinal  misadjust- 
ments  and  other  unusual  conditions  of  the  frame-work 
of  the  body  may  bring  pressure  to  bear  upon  a  given 
nerve,  and  so  influence  the  action  of  the  organ  with  which 
it  connects.  Furthermore,  there  are  emotional  states  which 
act  as  stimuli,  causing  these  reflexes  to  operate  and  quicken 
or  slow  up  the  functional  activities  of  any  organ  involved. 
Fear  causes  the  heart  to  move  upward  and  backward, 
giving  the  sensation  of  the  heart  being  in  the  throat. 
Anger  and  other  emotions  affect  in  similar  manner  the 
stomach,  liver,  intestines,  and  the  whole  system  of  the 
vegetative  organs.  Strong  mental  and  emotional  states 
may  also  contract  the  muscles,  choking  the  action  of  the 
nerves,  or  getting  the  frame-work  out  of  alignment  so  as 
to  impinge  upon  the  nerves  and  thus  lead,  through  the 
derangement  of  the  reflexes,  to  all  sorts  of  functional 
troubles.  Business  or  other  anxieties  and  mental  strain, 
will  produce  over  acidity  in  the  stomach,  and  this  con- 
tinued and  intensified  will  result  in  ulceration,  and  this 
neglected  lead  to  abnormal  cellular  activity,  known  as 
cancer,  tumor,  etc. 

Mental  and  emotional  states  have  a  decided  influence 
on  the  blood  pressure.  Anger  and  kindred  emotions  raise 
the  pressure  while  fears  of  all  kinds  lower  the  pressure. 
This  change  of  blood  pressure  in  turn  affects  the  mental 
states  and  functional  activities.  This  at  once  indicates 
that  even  in  the  treatment  by  purely  spiritual  methods 

[79] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

scientific  method  must  be  employed,  giving  to  the  anger- 
habited  patient  the  quieting  and  calming  truth,  and  giving 
to  the  phobia-habited  the  strong,  invigorating  phases  of 
the  truth. 

With  this  brief  analysis  of  the  causes  and  nature  of 
physical  ills,  the  system  of  normal,  rational  cure  must  fol- 
low the  Law  of  Cause  and  Effect. 

The  medical  doctor  has  through  the  medium  of  chem- 
istry a  large  number  of  agents  with  a  more  or  less  specific 
action  which  experience  proves  helpful  to  readjust  the 
chemical  conditions  of  the  body  and  relieve  the  various 
toxic  states  existing  in  the  body.  He  has  also  the  knowl- 
edge of  dietetic  chemistry  in  the  way  of  food  values,  food 
combinations;  also  the  value  of  rest,  the  proper  methods 
of  hygiene,  as  well  as  diversion  of  the  mind. 

The  drugless  practioner  has  for  his  agents  a  knowledge 
of  these  powerful  reflexes  of  the  entire  body,  of  the 
locations  of  the  nerve  centers  controlling  the  various  func- 
tional activities,  and  the  methods  of  stimulating  or  in- 
hibiting their  action.  He  likewise  has  access  to  the  knowl- 
edge and  use  of  the  laws  of  nutrition,  rest,  hygiene  and 
mental  diversion. 

The  doctor  of  mental  therapeutics  has  a  powerful  sys- 
tem of  agents  in  the  knowledge  and  use  of  the  mental 
powers  and  their  processes  in  the  governing  and  control- 
ling of  functional  activities.  He  has  a  knowledge  and  skill 
in  the  specific  effects  of  the  mind  on  all  functional  ac- 
tivities, and  all  organic  processes.  He  has  that  most 

[80] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  MEDICINE 

powerful  of  all  corrective  agents,  Suggestion,  by  which 
the  mind  may  bring  to  bear  almost  unlimited  stimulus  to 
energize  bodily  activities  and  regulate  the  entire  physical 
condition.  These  he  may  use  in  conjunction  with  the 
drugless  healer's  methods,  and  in  co-operation  with  the 
doctor  of  medicine. 

The  doctor  of  spiritual  healing  forces,  while  coming 
last  in  the  enumeration,  actually  stands  first  in  importance, 
because  he  is  dealing  in  the  primary  forces  and  the  change- 
less realities  of  life  and  energy.  Using  suggestion,  his 
healing  efforts  are  aided  by  the  most  powerful  suggestion 
possible  for  the  mind  to  grasp — THE  THOUGHT  OF  THE 
ABSOLUTE  BEING,  as  the  ultimate  healing  force.  He  also 
has  access,  and  consistently  so,  to  all  the  knowledge  and 
use  of  mechanical  manipulation,  and  finally,  his  co-opera- 
tion with  the  material  healing  agencies  is  priceless,  inas- 
much as  all  of  these  agencies  owe  their  potency  to  the 
great  Physician,  Whose  he  is  and  Whom  he  serves. 

If,  therefore,  one  would  be  emancipated  from  disease, 
suffering,  and  other  ills,  and  live  in  perfect  health,  he 
may  find  his  liberty,  his  freedom  from  the  bondage  of 
material  ills,  and  his  health,  at  the  Hands  of  his  God, 
Who  is  the  Author  of  health  and  all  of  the  agents  of 
health,  and  the  Director  of  all  the  forces  and  processes 
and  laws  involved  in  health. 


[81] 


All  nature  is  but  art  unknown  to  thee ; 

All  chance,  direction,  which  thou  canst  not  see, 
All  discord,  harmony  not  understood, 

All  partial  evil,  universal  good: 
And  spite  of  pride,  in  erring  reason's  spite, 

One  truth  is  clear — whatever  is,  is  right. 


[82] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

REMARKS    AT    THE    OPENING    OF    THE    THEOLOGICAL 
SEMINARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  HARD  KNOCKS 

RELIGION  is  the  great  historic  force.    It  has  made  and 
unmade  all  the  civilizations  of  the  world.  Man  is  a 
religious  animal.  The  moral  sense  is  universal.  The 
phrase  "I  ought"  is  in  every  language.    The  first  rational 
movements   are  seeking   after   some   personal   good,    and 
logically  this  seeking  leads  to  the  Supreme  Good.     The 
soul   intuitively   rights   itself   in   its  bearings,   just   as   it 
instinctively  shuns  the  things  that  work  ill.     In  all  its 
activities   and    seeking,    the   central    thought   uttered    or 
unexpressed  is,  "Where  is  He?" 

The  great  law  of  being  is  that  every  being  finds  its 
satisfaction  in  the  fullness  of  the  elements  of  which  it  is 
composed.  The  birds  of  the  forest,  the  cattle  of  the  hills, 
the  finny  tribes  of  the  deep,  and  all  living  things  in  which 
the  material  predominates,  eat  their  fill  and  are  satisfied. 
But  man  eats  and  is  still  hungry;  he  studies  and  is  still 
restless  and  unsatisfied;  he  sweeps  the  whole  gamut  of 
sensation;  he  adventures  in  every  field  of  knowledge  and 
wisdom,  and  cries  out  that  "it  is  all  vanity  and  vexation 
of  spirit."  With  this  world's  things  he  is  never  satisfied. 
"There  is  a  spirit  in  man,"  said  Job,  "and  the  inspiration 
of  the  Almighty  has  given  him  understanding."  He  is 

[83] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

satisfied  only  in  the  conscious  oneness  with  the  Eternal 
Spirit  from  whence  he  came.  He  is  spirit  and  only  spirit 
can  fill  him.  He  came  from  God  and  only  God  can 
satisfy  him.  To  find  that  Being,  to  know  Him,  to  live 
with  Him  in  spiritual  communion,  is  the  end  and  supreme 
aim  of  living,  and  it  is  the  work  of  this  school  to  teach  the 
nature  of  that  Being,  the  laws  of  His  existence,  the  forms 
of  His  activities,  His  relation  to  the  world  and  to  man, 
likewise  to  teach  man's  relation,  duty  and  privilege 
toward  Him. 

The  facts  of  the  spiritual  life  are  subject  to  scientific 
treatment  and  philosophic  formula,  just  as  any  material 
or  mental  facts  are.  Science  can  have  no  facts  nor  group- 
ing of  facts,  nor  theory  concerning  these  facts,  in  which 
there  is  not  a  place  for  Him  as  their  first  Cause.  Philos- 
ophy can  furnish  no  scheme  of  aim  and  end  of  living  that 
does  not  arise  at  least  to  greet  the  dignity  of  the  Supreme 
Wisdom  Himself.  Art  can  formulate  no  rules  and 
methods  of  living  that  do  not  have  Him  for  their  final 
objective.  Medicine  can  have  no  potency  or  specific  virtue 
in  which  He  is  not  present,  nor  can  it  act  in  any  way 
except  as  the  agent  of  Him  Who  is  our  Help,  the  Great 
Physician.  The  laws  of  material  success  even  can  find  no 
rule  so  far-reaching,  and  no  example  so  potent,  as  that 
one  given  to  the  Hebrew  people,  "I  Am  the  Lord  that 
teacheth  thee  to  get  money,"  or  that  other  formula  of 
Christian  peoples,  "Be  diligent  in  business,  fervent  in 
spirit,  serving  the  Lord." 

We  have,  therefore,  in  this  teaching  to  deal  with  the 

[84] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

ultimates,  the  finalities  of  existence,  as  they  are  found  in 
Him  Who  is  the  First  and  the  Last. 

POSTULATES  OF  BEING 

There  is  one  Being — the  Absolute — from  whence  comes 
all  life,  power  and  manifestation.  This  Final  Causality 
is  called  God,  Mind,  Spirit,  Principle,  Intelligence,  and 
other  terms  of  personality,  relationship  and  condition. 

He  is  the  Omni — the  All.  He  is  the  Uncreated  Sub- 
stance, the  Source  of  all  things,  visible  and  invisible. 

God  is  Spirit.  He  is  not  a  spirit,  but  Universal, 
Uncreated  Spirit.  Spirit  is  without  form  or  parts.  Hu- 
man spirits  conform  to  the  body  in  which  they  dwell,  but 
He  is  Absolute  Reality.  All  material  forms  are  relative 
reality;  all  material  things  are  temporary  instruments  of 
expression,  the  organism  of  which  He  is  the  active  life. 
His  movements  in  material  incarnation  are  the  text-books 
in  which  we  learn  of  Him. 

GOD   IS   THE   ABSOLUTE   AND   ETERNAL 

There  are  no  limitations  in  God,  the  Spirit.  Time  and 
space  do  not  exist  to  Him.  All  time  is  now;  everywhere 
is  here.  The  only  limitations  of  being  are  those  found  in 
the  conditions  of  material  expression.  In  these  He  works 
by  law,  and  does  not  work  otherwise.  In  His  Own 
Potential  Spiritual  Completeness  He  is  the  Unconditioned 
Absolute. 

GOD  IS  OMNIPRESENT 

There  is  no  place  where  He  is  not  equally  present.  He 
is  an  Eternal  Here.  Every  living  soul  is  the  center  of 
Divine  Being.  Every  spot  is  Holy  Ground.  Every  task 

[85] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

is  a  Sacred  Duty.     Every  service,  sacred  or  secular,  is 
a  Sacrament. 

GOD  IS  OMNIPOTENT 

Energy,  whether  potential  or  kinetic,  is  God  at  rest  or 
in  action.  "Power  belongeth  to  God."  He  is  the  Uni- 
versal Servitor,  "working  in  us  both  to  will  and  to  do," 
and  in  His  work  "He  is  able  to  do  exceedingly  abundantly 
above  all  that  we  can  ask  or  think." 

GOD  IS  OMNISCIENT 

He  is  the  All-knowing  One.  He  is  the  Full,  Final, 
Absolute  Truth.  His  methods  of  thought  are  such  that 
the  beginning,  the  middle  and  the  end  are  present  to  Him 
in  the  Eternal  Now.  There  are  no  mysteries  in  Divine 
Consciousness.  These  are  merely  the  result  of  limited, 
human  consciousness. 

GOD  IS  PERSON 

He  reveals  Himself  in  the  terms  of  relationship.  This 
may  be  for  our  accommodation,  but  He  also  bears  the 
stamp  of  personality.  He  has  the  power  to  know,  to  feel 
and  to  will,  and  reveals  the  character  that  results  from 
the  exercise  of  these  faculties.  His  is  Infinite  Personality, 
and  His  Personality  is  apart  from  all  idea  of  form.  Man's 
personality  is  identified  with  the  human  form.  The  ele- 
ments of  personality  are  mental  and  spiritual,  and  these 
alone  constitute  the  Image  of  God  in  which  we  are  made. 

GOD  IS  THE  SELF-EXISTENT  CREATOR 

With  Him  there  is  no  beginning  nor  end.  "In  the  be- 
ginning God."  He  is  the  Alpha  of  all  beginnings,  and  the 

[86] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

Omega  of  all  endings.    All  things  else  begin  and  end  in 
Him.   He  is  the  Totality  of  Being. 

GOD   IS   IMMANENT 

He  is  the  Administrator  of  all  movements  and  changes 
in  the  universe.  He  indwells  in  all  living  forms.  He  ex- 
presses Himself  in  all  living  things.  "The  invisible  things 
of  God,  even  His  Eternal  Power  and  Godhead,  are 
clearly  seen  from  the  created  world,  being  understood  by 
the  things  that  are  made."  He  lives  out  His  spiritual  ac- 
tivities in  the  spirits  of  men.  "That  which  may  be  known 
of  God  is  seen  in  us,  for  God  hath  revealed  Himself 
in  us." 

GOD  IS  THE  FATHER 

As  the  Author  of  our  being,  He  is  the  Universal  Serv- 
itor and  Provider.  He  careth  for  the  sparrows,  feeds  the 
ravens,  clothes  the  lilies,  numbers  the  hairs  of  our  heads, 
and  is  identified  with  every  experience  of  every  living  soul 
and  of  every  living  thing. 

GOD  IS  THE  SAVIOUR 

He  helps  in  every  need,  is  "touched  with  the  feeling  of 
our  infirmities,"  enters  intimately  into  all  our  experiences, 
is  acquainted  with  all  our  griefs,  stands  with  us  in  trouble, 
and  shows  us  the  way  out. 

GOD  IS  THE   COMFORTER 

He  enters  into  sympathetic  relationship  in  all  our  ex- 
periences, encourages  when  we  halt,  and  strengthens  when 
we  are  weak,  guides  us  in  uncertainty,  upholds  us  in 
trial,  and  makes  us  to  abound  in  every  good  word  and 
work. 

[87] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 
HE    IS    THE    GOD    OF    LOVE 

His  Name  and  Nature  is  Love.  Inasmuch  as  the  lan- 
guage of  loving  is  giving  He  is  ever  giving  of  His  bound- 
less store  to  His  children  whom  He  loves.  Since  He  is 
Omnipresent,  love  is  the  universal  moral  force.  His  Love 
is  the  inspiration  for  every  good,  the  cure  for  every  moral 
ill.  It  casts  out  fear ;  it  makes  an  end  of  hatred,  envy  and 
all  other  evil  passions.  It  never  fails.  The  soul,  led  and 
inspired  by  the  God  of  Love,  can  know  no  permanent 
failure  or  reverse.  It  has  entered  upon  the  pathway  that 
"shines  brighter  to  the  perfect  day."  It  has  entered  upon 
a  day  which  has  no  noontide  height  from  which  to  slowly 
decline,  but  upward  to  whose  zenith  the  soul  may  rise  to 
communion  with  the  princes  of  the  spiritual  realm,  to  be 
bright  with  equal  brightness,  and  great  with  equal  glory. 

These  are  postulates  of  Being,  the  assumptions  of 
spiritual  truth,  founded  on  the  organized  experiences  of 
the  race,  announced  by  the  seers  of  all  races  and  times, 
and  recorded  in  the  sacred  books  of  all  peoples. 

IN    HIS    RELATION    TO    THE    WORLD 

God  is  the  Creator.  "All  things  were  made  by  Him." 
"That  which  hath  been  made  was  life  in  Him."  His  Own 
Spiritual  Substance  furnished  the  elements  for  material 
creation.  Evolution  was  the  method  of  creation,  and 
just  as  creation  proceeded  by  a  principle  of  development, 
it  is  maintained  by  specific  laws  of  movement.  Law  is 
simply  the  method  by  which  the  forces  and  powers  of 
the  Almighty  operate  in  carrying  on  the  countless  pro- 

[88] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

cesses  in  the  universe.  Things  do  not  happen  by  chance, 
but  by  orderly  procedure. 

These  laws  are  uniform.  "He  sends  rain  on  the  just 
and  the  unjust,"  meaning  that  the  laws  of  the  precipita- 
tion of  moisture  are  in  no  wise  related  in  their  action  to 
the  moral  or  spiritual  condition  of  people.  Lightning 
strikes  a  church  about  as  often  as  it  does  a  saloon.  Riches 
or  poverty  come  to  the  good  and  the  bad  alike,  if  they 
obey  or  disobey  the  laws  of  prosperity.  Small-pox  is  no 
respecter  of  persons  when  the  blood  is  impure.  Tuber- 
culosis assails  the  best  and  the  worst  alike  if  the  laws  of 
nutrition  have  been  broken.  When  the  properous  and 
content  settles  down  to  vegetate  and  stop  growing,  the 
eternal  law  of  progress  scatters  his  flocks  and  his  family, 
smashes  his  credit  and  assails  his  body  until  he  gets  up 
and  moves  on.  Vibration  and  ceaseless  motion  are  the 
conditions  of  life's  continuance.  If  God  ever  says,  "Stand 
still,"  it  is  only  that  the  soul  may  hear  Him  say,  "Move 
forward."  Growth,  health,  prosperity,  happiness,  etc.,  are 
results  of  Divine  Energy,  moving  in  the  channels  or 
laws  governing  each.  God  does  not  grow  new  lung  tissue 
in  a  diseased  lung.  He  does  not  grow  a  new  arm  on  an 
old  stump.  That  is  not  His  law  of  producing  such  things. 
He  made  the  laws  and  He  fulfills  them;  otherwise  He 
would  cease  to  be  God — the  Perfect  One. 

Man  can  be  God-like  only  by  knowing  and  keeping  the 
laws  that  apply  to  His  Life.  It  is  conceivable  that  the 
ordinary  law  of  procedure  may  be  superseded  by  a  higher 

[89] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

one,  and  so  results  be  obtained  outside  or  above  that  which 
occurs  under  normal  conditions.  The  so-called  miracles, 
or  wonder  works  are  reasonably  explainable  in  this  way. 
Because  of  the  immanence  or  indwelling  of  God  in  all 
living  forms,  it  follows  that  there  is  no  movement  under 
any  law  in  which  He  is  not  directly  present.  It  is  His 
method  to  work  from  the  inside  rather  than  from  without. 
In  dealing,  therefore,  with  the  forces  of  the  universe  as 
we  touch  them  and  they  touch  us,  we  are  to  remember 
that  because  of  His  indwelling  we  are  dealing  directly 
with  Him,  even  though  we  are  using  material  agencies. 

IN   HIS  RELATION  TO  MAN 

Man  is  the  glory  and  crown  of  creative  process.  He  is 
the  climacteric  of  material  evolution.  He  is  the  most 
complex  of  all  organisms.  He  can  obey  more  laws  of 
life,  and  hence  can  experience  and  express  more  of  life 
than  all  other  living  things. 

The  spirit  in  man  is  of  the  same  essence  of  being  as 
God.  This  unity  of  life,  this  oneness  of  nature,  power, 
and  purpose,  is  expressed  under  the  term  of  sonship,  while 
God  is  called  "the  Father  of  Spirits,"  through  subjection 
to  Whom  and  in  communion  with  Whom,  man  lives. 
Life's  greatest  moment  begins  in  the  full  realization  and 
acceptance  of  this  oneness  and  sonship;  thenceforth  He 
finds  a  familiar  voice  within  himself,  crying  out  to  the 
Great  Absolute,  and  saying,  "Abba,  Father."  This  is  the 
hour  in  which  he  is  "born  again"  or  "from  above,"  in 
which  he  steps  out  of  human-consciousness  into  Divine- 

[90] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

Consciousness.  Thenceforth,  his  task  is  to  meet  his  earthly 
contacts  and  their  results,  and  to  so  master  them  and 
eliminate  out  of  his  character  their  hurtful  influences  and 
incorporate  their  good  effects,  that  he  shall  show  forth  the 
character  of  God.  In  this  work  he  is  a  co-worker  with 
God,  a  partner  in  the  world  affairs. 

God  is  the  Being  of  Ceaseless  Activity.  He  worketh 
hitherto  and  evermore.  Man  is  likewise  a  partaker  of  this 
divine  impulse  to  work,  whose  unfoldment  finds  work  a 
necessity.  He  is  to  work  out  his  salvation  from  sickness, 
sin,  heredity,  and  environment,  into  the  full  enjoyment  of 
sonship  and  of  divine  masterfulness,  knowing  that  "God 
worketh  in  him  both  to  will  and  to  do."  If  a  man  will  not 
work  "neither  shall  he  eat."  The  nation  or  individual 
who  will  not  work  invites  decay  and  death.  Work  is  esti- 
mated a  curse  only  by  a  lazy  man,  but  is  a  blessing  un- 
told to  him  who  accepts  his  place  in  the  divine  scheme  of 
living.  He  who  attains  a  success  and  retires  violates  the 
first  law  of  being.  Every  attainment  is  the  beginning  of 
a  new  task.  The  crown  of  every  evolutionary  process 
is  but  the  foundation  of  another  great  cycle  of  activity 
and  development.  Every  seeming  failure  in  any  of  these 
processes  is  a  shunt  in  a  new  direction  toward  success. 
Each  of  the  seven  great  stages  of  material  creation  was 
the  foundation  for  a  further  upward  move,  and  the  present 
stage  of  human  activity  and  achievement  is  but  the  ground- 
work for  a  new  world  of  activity  in  a  spiritual  realm. 

If  a  man  disobeys  the  laws  of  his  sonship  to  the  Ab- 

[91] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

solute,  he  receives  the  consequences  or  effects  of  a  sin.  As 
soon  as  he  obeys  the  law  it  is  remedial  and  he  is  saved. 
He  is  constantly  beset  with  temptations  to  violate  the  law 
for  his  own  immediate  pleasure.  If  he  yields  he  must  ac- 
cept the  consequences.  If  he  resists  the  temptation  he 
loses  a  moment's  pleasure,  but  the  law  rewards  him  with 
a  greater  gain.  If  he  is  an  A.  B.  he  does  not  practice 
sin;  he  cannot  sin  because  he  is  "born  from  above."  It 
is  the  same  moral  "cannot"  by  which  a  boy  might  strike 
his  mother,  but  his  love  is  the  restraining  power,  and  he 
"cannot." 

The  relationship  is,  therefore,  the  relation  of  the  whole 
and  the  part;  the  relationship  of  a  unity  facing  in  two 
directions.  Man  is  a  part  of  God's  life  as  truly  as  his 
finger  is  a  part  of  his  hand,  and  because  of  this  his  standard 
of  living  and  of  achievement  is  set  from  the  standpoint  of 
spiritual  supremacy. 

IN    HIS    RELATION    TO    PRAYER 

God  hears  and  answers  prayer.  He  encourages  the  sons 
of  men  to  pray  in  prosperity  and  in  adversity;  in  health 
and  in  sickness;  in  every  condition  and  estate,  and  about 
everything. 

In  vain  shall  man  cry,  "where  shall  I  find  God  that 
I  may  pray  to  him,"  until  he  looks  within  his  own  spirit. 
God  is  the  being  without  circumference  whose  center  is 
everywhere.  The  center  of  Spirit  is  within  man,  out 
from  which  focus  its  lines  diverge  toward  omnipresence. 
Turning  the  mind  to  this  center  is  prayer.  It  is  provi- 

[92] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

dence  within  calling  upon  providence  without.  It  is  de- 
mand calling  on  supply.  It  is  effect  changed  into  cause. 
It  is  the  ground  for  certainty  that  all  true  prayer  is 
answered. 

Prayer  is  the  silent  or  expressed  desire  of  the  soul  to 
come  into  the  Presence  of  Him  Whom  it  recognizes  as 
Being,  Will,  Wisdom,  Power,  and  Love. 

Prayer  opens  up  the  channels  of  communication  be- 
tween the  Infinite  and  the  finite,  so  that  the  true  aliment 
of  the  soul  may  steadily  flow  in,  renewing,  enriching  and 
empowering  the  life. 

Prayer  takes  on  the  form  of  confession  by  which  the 
soul  unloads  its  sense  of  wrong-doing  by  telling  it  to 
Him. 

Prayer  is  the  universal  and  instinctive  call  of  the  soul 
in  the  hour  of  its  extremity. 

Prayer  in  the  form  of  praise  is  the  irresistible  impulse  of 
the  heart  in  the  hour  of  attainment. 

Prayer  is  the  spontaneous  ejaculation  of  the  soul  in 
the  moment  of  imminent  need  or  of  supreme  triumph. 

Prayer  is  talking  to  God.  Prayer  is  listening  to  God 
speak. 

Prayer  is  thinking  the  thoughts  of  God  and  so  directing 
the  creative  forces  of  God. 

Prayer  for  forgiveness  must  be  prefaced  by  a  forgiving 
spirit  toward  others  and  ourselves.  Prayer  is  not  heard, 
at  least,  not  answered,  so  long  as  we  blame  ourselves  or 
others. 

[93] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

Prayer  takes  on  the  character  of  importunity  when  the 
need  is  great  and  the  obstacles  insurmountable.  Under  the 
importunate  prayer  the  soul  gets  a  vision  of  what  is 
wanted.  Its  purpose  becomes  clearer.  The  resolution  to 
have  it  becomes  more  definite,  and  the  faith  that  we  can 
have  it  reaches  that  triumphant  note  of  realization,  which 
cries,  "It  shall  be  done,"  and  it  is.  For  this  faith,  all 
the  forces  without  and  within,  upon  whose  action  the 
answer  depends,  have  waited  and  do  wait.  Spiritual  under- 
standing, through  receptivity,  and  the  divine  compelling 
note  of  faith,  set  all  the  spiritual  forces  into  action. 

The  results  of  prayer  are,  therefore,  both  objective  and 
subjective. 

Prayer  prepares  the  suppliant  to  receive  what  he  asks, 
and  that  which  is  already  his. 

Prayer  brings  him  into  conscious  harmony  with  the 
spiritual  source  of  all  things.  It  sets  these  forces  which 
flow  through  him  into  active  operation,  and  directs  him 
to  the  desired  end. 

The  time  to  pray  is  always.  "Pray  without  ceasing." 
Pray  instantly  for  each  new  condition  that  arises. 

The  scope  of  prayer  is  universal.  "All  things  whatso- 
ever ye  ask  believing  ye  shall  receive" ;  the  things  we  can 
do  alone ;  the  things  we  cannot  do  alone. 

Prayer  is  equally  effective  in  material  things,  mental 
things,  or  spiritual  things. 

The  conditions  of  prayer  are  a  sense  of  need,  a  forgiving 
spirit  and  a  believing  heart ;  with  clean  hands ;  in  harmony 

[94] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

with  the  Divine  Will ;  for  the  welfare  of  self  and  others, 
and  in  co-operation  with  other  praying  spirits. 

IN  HIS  RELATION  TO  HEALTH 

God  is  the  health  of  His  people.  "I  Am  the  Lord  That 
healeth  thee."  He  is  the  Life  of  the  world,  and  His  Life 
is  Perfect  Health.  Only  by  clogging  the  channels  through 
which  the  life  forces  flow  can  we  induce  a  state  of  dis- 
ease. Even  though  we  become  diseased  He  is  still  the 
Master  to  heal  all  our  diseases.  Obeying  Him  we  have 
the  same  warrant  for  health  that  He  gave  to  the  people 
of  the  Exodus,  "I  will  not  suffer  any  of  the  diseases  of 
the  Egyptians  to  come  upon  you."  Those  who  have  come 
to  full  consciousness  of  His  Unspoilable  Health  have  been 
masters  over  disease  and  old  age.  Moses  was  so  clothed 
with  Divine  Consciousness  that  at  the  time  of  his  passing 
out  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  years,  "His 
vision  was  not  dimmed,  nor  his  natural  force  abated." 
Jesus  and  His  initiated  disciples  broke  the  bonds  of  dis- 
ease, and  assaulted  the  gates  of  death  itself,  in  their 
supreme  confidence  in  the  Great  Healer.  Facing  the 
conflict  growing  out  of  all  material  contacts,  St.  Paul 
cried  triumphantly,  "Thanks  be  to  God  Who  giveth  us 
the  victory."  The  psalmist,  recounting  the  works  of  God 
for  His  people,  summarizes  them  in  the  words,  "Who 
forgiveth  all  thine  iniquities" — the  cause — and  "healeth 
all  thy  diseases" — the  effects. 

Speaking  of  those  who  forgot  God,  the  real  Healer,  the 
Prophet  Jeremiah  said,  "In  vain  shalt  thou  use  many 
medicines."  No  plaster  nor  powder  has  any  virtue  not 

[95] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

imparted  by  the  Great  Healer,  and  the  action  of  these 
specific  virtues  in  material  things  is  greatly  enchanced  by 
one's  faith,  or  retarded  by  one's  doubt. 

When  the  Master  was  teaching  a  church  gathering 
from  all  over  the  Holy  Land,  the  record  says,  "The  power 
of  the  Lord  was  present  to  heal  them."  That  same  con- 
dition of  healing  power  was  present  over  and  over  again 
in  His  Life  and  the  life  of  His  disciples,  and  it  was  recog- 
nized as  what  might  be  expected  to  take  place  in  any 
church  service  anywhere. 

In  the  Prayer  Book,  the  statement  of  the  purposes  of 
the  service  has  this  clause:  "And  to  ask  those  things 
which  are  requisite  and  necessary  as  well  for  the  body  as 
the  soul."  And  again,  in  the  act  of  receiving  the  symbolic 
bread  and  wine,  the  communicant  hears  the  words,  "Pre- 
serve thy  body  and  soul  unto  everlasting  life,"  both  state- 
ments clearly  recognizing  that  whatever  the  content  of  the 
service  may  be,  it  is  to  apply  equally  to  the  physical  and 
spiritual  welfare. 

God  is  the  Healer  of  all  diseases.  He  uses  divine 
agencies  in  any  form  that  the  case  may  require.  "The 
earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fullness  thereof,"  so  that 
healing  through  the  use  of  pill,  powder  or  scalpel  may  be 
as  truly  Divine  Healing  as  that  which  comes  through 
prayer,  or  the  laying  on  of  hands,  or  the  use  of  a  sacra- 
ment. So  that  for  every  condition,  every  disease,  we  are 
called  upon  to  use  every  means,  and  at  the  same  time  obey 
the  Divine  Fiat,  "Look  unto  Me  and  be  ye  saved." 

[96] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 
IN  HIS  RELATION  TO  THE  AFFECTIONS  AND  EMOTIONS 

God  is  Love.  He  is  the  Source  of  love  in  all  its  mani- 
festations, from  the  maternal  instinct  of  the  lowest  crea- 
tures, to  the  highest  intellectual  conception  of  love  for  its 
own  sake — the  love  that  goes  out  freely  with  no  thought 
of  reward  or  return. 

Love  is  the  prevailing  and  dominating  characteristic  of 
the  Divine,  and  it  is  the  anterior  force  in  all  advance.  In 
it  is  life's  secret  of  abundance.  It  comes  from  the  one 
Absolute  Source,  and  to  give  it  the  right  of  way  in  the 
heart  is  to  fulfill  all  law,  human  or  divine. 

Perfect  love  seeks  always  another's  good.  Selfishness 
seeks  one's  own  good.  Two  people  love  perfectly  only  in 
forgetfulness  of  self,  "Love  seeketh  not  her  own."  Yet 
the  reciprocal  operations  are  such  that  love  never  fails  to 
draw  its  own.  The  law  of  affinity,  the  irresistible  attrac- 
tion of  likes,  guarantees  that  "None  shall  lack  her  mate," 
and  that  every  individual  goes  to  his  own  place  in  the 
scale  of  character. 

The  affections  and  emotions  are  grounded  in  the  Divine 
Love,  which  is  universal  and  perfect.  Instinctively  love 
clothes  its  objective  with  a  perfect  ideal.  To  the  lover 
love  is  supreme,  and  all  things  are  lovely  and  lovable,  just 
as  "to  the  pure  all  things  are  pure."  Often  he  finds  that 
the  ideal  is  not  fulfilled  by  the  one  he  loves.  It  is  this 
eternal  struggle  between  the  ideally  perfect  and  the  realis- 
tically faulty  objective  that  tries  so  many  couples  to  the 
breaking  point.  Only  a  course  in  the  University  of  Hard 

[97] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

Knocks  can  help  the  student  to  a  wise  adjustment  of  his 
perfect  ideal  to  his  imperfect  human  mate. 

Love  is  the  legitimate  basis  of  all  ties,  especially  those 
of  the  family.  Marriage  can  arise  only  in  the  outgoings 
of  this  Divine  Love  ideal,  which  finds  its  own  though  it 
cross  continents  and  worlds,  and  they  two  are  one.  Mar- 
riage can  begin,  continue  and  end  aright  only  in  this 
Divine  Harmony  of  two  ideal  lovers.  This  alone  consti- 
tutes marriage,  and  because  of  this  perfect  harmony  it  is 
said  that  marriages  are  made  in  heaven.  Legal  and 
ecclesiastical  sanctions  alone  cannot  make  "Holy  Matri- 
mony." Love  alone  is  the  divine  warrant.  The  other 
sanctions  are  provisions  for  the  protection  of  the  social 
order.  The  love  that  endures  is  so  akin  to  God  that  it 
takes  the  form  of  worship  toward  God  and  His  Human 
Image.  Love  is,  therefore,  a  divine  prerogative  whose 
volume  is  measured  to  the  individual  according  to  his 
intelligence  and  uprightness.  Love  fills  its  possessor  with 
a  general  altruistic  inclination  which  expresses  itself  in 
kindness  to  every  living  thing.  This  is  the  key  to  every 
permanent  success.  Divine  Love,  with  its  gentleness, 
cannot  exist  apart  from  a  forgiving  attitude  toward  all 
others  and  toward  one's  self.  Love  endows  the  soul  with 
redeeming  purpose  and  power.  Love  stimulates  the  incen- 
tive to  achievement,  industry,  presentable  personality  and 
self-esteem.  Love  imparts  its  divine  quality  to  every- 
thing, and  transforms  its  surroundings  into  a  paradise. 
Love  reclaims  when  all  else  fails.  "Thy  gentleness  hath 
made  me  great,"  was  the  testimony  of  the  inspired  one  of 

[98] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

old,  and  it  is  the  secret  of  all  preferment.  Love  alone 
with  its  kindness  and  gentleness  can  inspire  to  greatness 
of  achievement.  Love  promotes  to  honor  and  shapes 
destiny.  Love  may  lose  its  objective  because  love  was  not 
pure,  unselfish  and  exalted,  or  because  the  objective  was 
not  worthy,  but  love  can  never  lose  itself  and  the  fruit 
of  its  service.  "I  am  persuaded  that  nothing  can  separate 
us  from  the  love  of  God."  Love  is  the  highest  form  of 
divine  harmony,  making  its  human  medium  a  harp  of  a 
thousand  strings,  upon  which  vibrates  forth  its  soothing, 
healing  and  ennobling  power.  Love,  with  its  feelings 
and  deep  sentiment,  profoundly  impresses  the  physical 
body,  filling  it  with  contagious  health  and  boundless 
energy;  in  other  words,  one's  feelings  are  appropriated  by 
one's  system,  and  every  cell  in  the  body  shouts  for  the  joy 
of  living  when  the  divine  stimulus  of  true  love  reaches 
them.  Love  absolves  from  all  wrong  and  consumes  all 
iniquities,  for  "we  are  without  blame  before  Him  in  love." 

Love  inducts  one  into  the  thought  atmosphere  of  the 
Eternal,  for  "He  that  dwelleth  in  Love  dwelleth  in  God, 
and  He  in  him."  It  lifts  one  out  of  the  idea  and  sense  of 
time  into  the  method  of  the  Divine  Existence.  The  idea 
of  time  is  lost  to  lovers.  Jacob's  seven  years  of  service 
"seemed  but  a  few  days  for  the  love  he  had  for  her." 

Love  is  the  all-compelling  force,  for  "all  things  work 
together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God."  Logically 
this  is  true  of  love  whatever  be  its  object.  Therefore, 
the  greatest  thing  in  the  world  is  love,  for  love  is  the 

[99] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

highest  characteristic  of  the  Divine  Nature  and  noblest 
expression  of  a  Divine  Character. 

IN   HIS  RELATION  TO  FEAR 

Fear  is  the  most  elemental  and  powerful  of  emotions. 
The  chicken  hiding  from  a  hawk,  the  primitive  man 
dwelling  in  a  tree  or  cave,  as  well  as  the  fear  manifested 
by  the  modern  civilized  individual,  all  show  that  the  fear 
germ  is  in  all  living  things.  It  is  an  offshoot  from  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation,  and  because  in  the  earlier 
stages  of  human  life  so  many  physical  dangers  beset  and 
threatened  life,  constantly  exercising  the  sense  of  self- 
preservation,  fear  became  highly  developed.  Instinctively 
it  rises  in  the  presence  of  a  force  with  marked  power  and 
unknown  purpose. 

Naturally  fear  was  the  first  motive  in  religious  activity, 
and  when  fear  was  the  supreme  emotion  furnishing  the 
motive  in  man's  attitude  toward  God,  the  circle  or  reign 
of  fear  was  complete,  having  to  do  with  his  preservation 
here  and  with  his  welfare  hereafter.  Under  the  reign  of 
fear  whole  colonies  of  fear  germs  together  with  their 
progeny  beset  the  pathway  of  human  attainment.  The 
world  is  filled  with  people  who  have  all  the  elements  of 
great  attainment,  but  they  are  beset  with  fear  to  venture. 
We  call  it  timidity,  but  it  is  plainly  fear  that  paralyzes 
their  powers  of  initiative  and  achievement. 

The  Fear  family  is  very  large,  some  of  its  principal 
children  being  fear  of  mistakes,  fear  of  ridicule,  fear  of 
failure,  fear  of  public  opinion,  fear  of  suffering  and  fear 
of  death.  These  are  a  few  of  the  counts  in  the  "bondage 

[100] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOClf    ,       ;•.}"',*''.  K>   \ 

of  fear"  in  which  people  live,  hindered  from  reaching  that 
success  for  which  they  are  endowed,  and  to  which  plainly 
they  are  divinely  called. 

Fear  always  magnifies  the  real  danger  and  blinds  its 
victim  to  the  real  safety.  These  timid,  hesitating,  blush- 
ing, stammering,  shrinking  souls  need  to  know  the  rela- 
tionship of  God  to  this  whole  fear  impulse,  and  that  in 
the  presence  of  His  Almightiness,  fear  is  only  the  negation 
of  love  and  trust.  That  Power  of  all  powers,  the  God 
Whose  we  are  and  Whom  we  serve,  is  a  Being  of  Love. 
Every  power  in  the  world  works  under  the  influence  of 
the  supreme  law  of  love,  and  is,  therefore,  beneficent. 
Every  far-reaching  divine  purpose  is  good,  and  every 
normal  outcome  of  action  is  just.  Every  failure  comes  as 
the  result  of  fear  to  trust  and  use  the  powers  always  at 
our  disposal.  Bold  initiative  in  a  world  set  for  adventure ; 
implicit  confidence  in  the  heart  of  love  back  of  all  forces; 
unfaltering  fidelity  in  using  what  is  at  hand;  these  pave 
the  way  to  the  conquest  of  fear. 

To  believe  in  the  One  Supreme  God  and  in  one's  self 
as  His  representative  on  earth,  is  to  clothe  the  soul  with 
the  panoply  of  all  spiritual  powers.  God,  the  very  Life 
of  the  world,  is  Love.  Love  is  His  Name  and  Nature. 
Esoteric  knowledge  of  that  truth  marks  the  end  of  fear. 
Fear  is  a  negative  which  ends  the  moment  the  soul  under- 
stands the  Great  Positive.  Perfect  love  casts  out  fear; 
makes  it  non-existent;  sets  the  captive  free.  Active  iden- 
tification of  one's  life  with  the  Life  of  the  Being  who  is 
Love,  ends  fear  in  whatsoever  form  it  may  assail.  There 

[101] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 


can  be  no  fear  of  failure  in  a  soul  consciously  identified 
with  the  purposes  of  an  Almighty  Love.  There  is  a 
"Thus  saith  the  High  and  Uplifted  One,"  that  carries 
him  unafraid  through  the  testing  things  of  life,  and  makes 
him  more  than  conqueror  of  fear.  It  enables  him  to 
demonstrate  love  in  its  power  over  sin,  sickness  or  death, 
and  enables  him  to  realize  the  great  ideal  of  Zacharias  in 
that  song  of  the  centuries,  the  Benedictus,  "Might  serve 
Him  without  fear  all  the  days  of  our  life,"  and  enables 
him  to  say,  "Though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  ...  I  will  fear  no  evil,  because  Thou  art 
with  me." 

IN  HIS  RELATION  TO  SIN 

The  history  of  humanity  has  been  made  to  revolve 
around  the  tragedy  of  human  transgressions,  for  thereby 
the  destiny  of  the  race  has  been  threatened. 

In  the  ignorance  of  the  simplest  laws  of  material  life, 
of  mental  activity,  and  social  relationships,  man  found 
himself  suffering  the  consequences  of  broken  law,  and 
these  ill  effects  he  ignorantly  attributed  to  gods  whom  he 
had  not  pleased,  and  whose  tyrannical  rule  he  must 
placate.  It  did  not  occur  to  him  to  mend  his  ways,  but 
rather  to  purchase  the  favor  of  his  gods  with  some  sort 
of  gift,  or  sacrifice.  It  was  a  sort  of  tribute  to  a  personal 
tyrant  whom  he  feared,  and  whose  displeasure  or  ill-will 
he  could  not  afford  to  invite.  When  he  found  his  god  or 
gods  co-operating  with  him  and  apparently  prospering 
him  in  right-doing,  his  fear  was  softened  into  reverence 
for  this  senior  partner  of  his  life's  doings. 

[102] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

He  still  had  no  idea  of  the  reign  of  law.  The  ten 
words,  or  Commandments,  he  accepted  and  tried  to  obey. 
He  made  sacrifices  and  offerings  because  he  could  not 
obey.  He  esteemed  these  Commandments  as  the  announce- 
ments of  his  God,  and  did  not  gather  their  significance  as 
laws,  which  protected  interests  vital  to  racial  destiny,  the 
doing  of  which  protected  his  own  interests  and  the  inter- 
ests of  others,  and  furthered  the  progress  of  man.  If 
violated,  he  perceived  that  they  brought  upon  him  and 
others  specific  visitations  of  Divine  wrath,  rather  than 
understood  that  they  automatically  visited  him  with 
definite  consequences.  Sin  was  to  him  therefore  an  offense 
against  a  personal  being  who  took  vengeance  upon  the 
sinner.  He  had  to  grow  into  the  truth  that  sin  was  the 
violation  of  the  laws  that  made  for  the  best  interests  of 
himself  and  others,  and  whose  effects  came  to  him  and  to 
others  regardless  of  the  personal  attitude  of  the  law-giver. 

His  first  object  lesson  of  the  nature  and  effects  of  sin 
came  in  a  ceremonial  observance  in  the  which  a  man  in 
priestly  garb,  clothed  with  authority  to  represent  God, 
took  a  goat,  and,  in  view  of  all  the  people,  laid  his  hands 
on  the  goat  and  placed  on  him  all  the  sins  of  the  people. 
This  scapegoat  was  then  separated  from  his  kind,  sent 
away  into  the  wilderness,  banished  from  the  protection  of 
the  shepherd,  to  be  chased  by  wild  beasts,  and  to  perish 
without  the  camp. 

There  was  no  thought,  really,  of  vicarious  suffering  in 
this  process.  It  was  merely  to  teach  him  that  the  violation 
of  the  law  was  attended  with  certain  definite  consequences 

[103] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

which  work  automatically.  Doing  right  brought  good 
results ;  doing  wrong  brought  bad  results. 

Furthermore  the  priest  took  incense  and  burned  it,  and 
as  man  saw  it  ascending,  his  thought  turned  upward 
toward  his  God,  and  he  learned  the  secret  of  devotion, 
the  upward  breathing  of  his  spirit,  and  the  efficacy  of 
prayer. 

Ages  of  bondage  to  the  fear  gods  passed  before  he  found 
that  there  was  very  little  relief  in  the  sacrifices  he  offered, 
but  rather  a  measure  of  good  results  from  avoiding  certain 
forms  of  action,  and  in  following  out  certain  other  prin- 
ciples, which  experience  showed  were  followed  by  happy 
consequences. 

Carrying  his  divinities  over  into  the  activities  of  his 
life,  he  found  that  his  gods  seemed  to  work  with  him  as  he 
followed  lines  of  conduct  having  some  other  motive  than 
self-gratification,  and  especially  when  he  became  concerned 
in  the  betterment  of  the  family,  of  the  tribe,  of  the  nation, 
and  of  the  world  at  large,  so  that  eventually  his  life  moved 
out  into  the  activities  of  the  various  channels  of  altruism. 
By  and  by  his  sacrifices  for  sin  took  on  a  sacramental 
meaning,  for  they  not  only  placated  the  Divine  Being, 
but  he  found  an  inner  subjective  experience  and  peace  in 
offering  them,  which  good  results  he  eventually  discovered 
followed  the  obedience  of  certain  forms  of  action,  thereby 
furnishing  him  with  an  incentive  to  keep  the  law. 

In  all  of  these  processes  "the  law  was  his  schoolmaster 
to  bring  him  to  Christ,"  the  Divinely-anointed,  and  to 
conscious  fellowship  with  God.  Slowly  but  surely  he 

[104] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

grew  into  the  thought  of  God  as  a  beneficent  Being,  Who 
co-operated  with  him  in  all  good  endeavor,  and  eventually 
the  gods  of  fear  passed  upward  into  the  God  of  Love,  and 
his  religion  passed  from  a  fear  motive  to  a  love  motive. 

Moreover,  the  God  of  Love  was  no  longer  interested 
in  the  "blood  of  bulls  and  goats,"  and  other  sacrifices, 
but  rather  in  the  offering  of  a  contrite  spirit,  which  was 
demonstrated  by  amending  the  life,  stopping  the  violation 
of  physical,  moral  and  spiritual  law,  and  by  a  positive 
obedience  to  the  same. 

Religion,  therefore,  became  an  intensely  personal  mat- 
ter, and  resolved  itself  into  a  loving  co-partnership  with  a 
Being  of  Absolute  Love. 

Does  he  through  ignorance  or  otherwise,  find  himself 
violating  the  law,  he  simply  changes  his  action  to  obeying 
the  law,  and  finds  his  wrong  doing  absolved  in  the  Great 
Spirit  of  Love  Whom  he  serves.  And  this  God  of  Love 
with  Whom  he  is  at  one,  sheds  forth  into  the  heart  of 
him  who  seeks  to  do  His  Will,  that  all-cleansing  Love, 
which  is  the  solvent  of  every  sin,  the  healing  for  every 
disease,  the  restoration  from  every  fall,  the  success  lead- 
ing forth  from  every  failure.  He  requires  no  sacrifice,  no 
price  paid,  but  a  loving  obedience  to  the  command  of  a 
Loving  Heart,  "Go  thy  way  and  sin  no  more." 

IN   HIS   RELATION   TO   PROSPERITY  AND  ADVERSITY 

God  is  the  universal  force  behind  and  in  all  phenomena. 
A  certain  great  principle  is  discernible  in  all  that  takes 
place,  as,  for  example,  the  principle  of  growth.  In  the 

[105] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

operation  of  power  under  these  great  controlling  prin- 
ciples, certain  methods  of  action,  called  laws,  are  apparent. 
Inasmuch  as  He  is  the  Intelligence  guiding  these  opera- 
tions, it  is  evident  that  whatever  is  is  referable  at  last  to 
Him.  Whatever  happens  is  His  action  through  the  opera- 
tion of  His  laws,  and  all  that  He  does  is  wise  and  just 
and  good.  In  whatsoever  form  the  results  of  His  divine 
movement  come  they  may  be  grouped  under  the  head  of 
good  or  prosperity.  These  are  the  positive  products  of 
Divine  Forces  at  work. 

Now  God  not  only  does  things  through  law,  but  He 
permits  things  to  happen  by  law.  In  all  things  in  which 
there  is  no  form  of  choice,  as  in  inanimate  things,  the 
operation  and  effect  of  law  is  uniform,  but  as  soon  as 
will,  or  its  earlier  forms  of  automatic,  reflex,  and  intuitive 
action  arises,  the  operation  of  the  law  continues  uniform, 
but  the  results  of  the  law  are  conditioned  upon  obedience 
or  disobedience  to  the  law. 

The  great  principle  of  production  with  its  laws  is  in- 
fallible, but  the  volume  and  character  of  its  results  depend 
largely  upon  the  preparation,  seed  time,  cultivation,  and 
other  factors  involving  an  intelligent  understanding  and 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  growth. 

In  production  of  any  sort  in  which  intelligent  co-opera- 
tion with  the  forces  of  production  is  involved,  the  volume 
and  character  of  the  result  is  conditioned  upon  keeping  the 
law.  Failure  to  obey  the  laws  of  the  harvest  results  in 
reduction  of  the  outcome,  both  in  volume  and  quality, 

[106] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

while  obedience  moves  in  the  direction  of  abundance. 
Obedience  to  the  principles  of  growth  causes  every  species 
to  move  steadily  upward,  while  disobedience  is  followed  by 
a  reversion  to  more  primitive  and  less  perfect  forms.  This 
atavism  can  never  occur  as  long  as  intelligent  co-operation 
with  the  law  is  maintained.  These  principles,  operative  in 
the  realm  of  material  production,  result  in  prosperity  or 
adversity  as  a  comparative  condition.  "If  ye  be  willing 
and  obedient  ye  shall  eat  the  good  of  the  land."  That  is 
material  prosperity,  and  the  secret  of  its  attainment.  "But 
if  ye  refuse  and  rebel  ye  shall  be  destroyed."  That  is  ma- 
terial adversity,  together  with  its  cause. 

This  same  principle  applies  to  mental  growth,  and  its 
fruits  of  intelligence,  literary  production,  the  arts  and 
sciences,  and  other  attendants  of  civilization.  And  mental 
prosperity,  is  marked  by  the  fruits  of  knowledge  and  wis- 
dom which  are  organized  into  a  general  condition  of 
mental  supremacy  and  prosperity,  in  the  knowledge,  prac- 
tice and  enjoyment  of  the  truth.  Failure  to  obey  the 
same  laws  results  in  ignorance  with  all  its  limitations 
which  eventually  become  organized  into  a  general  state 
of  mental  poverty  with  its  embarrassing  limitations  of  ex- 
pression. 

Nor  does  the  principle  apply  any  the  less  powerfully  in 
the  higher  realms  of  spiritual  adventure  and  growth  with 
their  activities  of  faith,  hope  and  love,  exercised  in  prayer, 
praise  and  service.  These  issue  into  peace  and  happiness 
here  and  now  as  the  normal  spiritual  condition  of  an 

[107] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

obedient  and  therefore  prosperous  people.  These  spiritual 
exercises  which  result  in  a  clearer  understanding  of  God 
and  of  our  oneness  with  Him,  growing  at  last  into  full 
conscious  completeness  in  Him,  is  called  "the  law  of  life 
in  Christ  Jesus,"  and  failing  to  obey  this  law  leads  to  a 
state  of  spiritual  destitution,  which  is  called  "the  law  of 
sin  and  death,"  for  sin  and  its  effects  persisted  in  are  soon 
organized  into  a  condition  of  active  evil,  so  pronounced 
and  intelligent,  as  to  be  personified  with  the  title  of 
"devil." 

Inasmuch  as  the  exercise  of  spiritual  forces  puts  one 
into  the  most  intimate  touch  with  Him  Who  is  the  re- 
pository of  all  resources,  it  follows  that  prosperity  is  pri- 
marily a  state  of  the  soul  whose  wealth  may  express  itself 
in  wisdom,  or  knowledge,  or  skill,  or  in  material  posses- 
sions. 

The  abundance  of  God  is  related  to  individual  charac- 
teristics. One  may  be  surpassingly  rich  in  all  results  of 
spiritual  adventure,  and  yet  have  little  of  material  re- 
sources, but  his  wealth  is  that  of  contentment  with  higher 
things,  and  that  very  state  of  spiritual  abundance  tends 
to  draw  to  him  whatsoever  he  needs  for  his  personal  wel- 
fare. 

Prosperity  and  adversity  are  therefore  grounded  in  the 
state  of  one's  relationship  to  God.  Job,  unconscious  of 
having  violated  the  law  of  growth  and  yet  feeling  its 
effects,  said,  "Shall  we  receive  good  at  the  hand  of  the 
Lord,  and  shall  we  not  also  receive  evil?" 

[108] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

The  secret  of  prosperity  is  to  abound  in  spiritual  riches 
in  all  conditons  of  life,  being  "diligent  in  business,  fervent 
in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord,"  remembering  that  "He  hath 
blessed  us  with  all  spiritual  blessings,"  and  that  He  "shall 
supply  all  your  need  according  to  His  riches  in  glory  by 
Christ  Jesus." 

The  student  in  the  University  of  Hard  Knocks  learns 
how  to  abound  and  be  in  want,  and  rise  above  them  as 
merely  incidental  in  the  presence  of  the  greater  riches  of 
spiritual  treasure. 

IN    HIS   RELATION   TO   FAITH,   HOPE,   AND   LOVE 

These  are  the  three  cardinal  principles  which  abide 
changeless  in  a  changing  world.  They  are  the  essential 
elements  of  the  Divine  Life.  They  are  the  working  virtues 
which  lead  to  spiritual  supremacy.  They  are  the  going 
forth  of  the  Divine  within  us  to  the  Divine  without  us. 
They  form  the  spiritual  triangle  upon  which  life  projects 
itself  along  the  pathway  of  eternal  progress.  They  form 
the  three  sides  of  the  prism  which  reveals  every  hue  of 
spiritual  light  and  beauty.  They  are  the  three-dimensional 
qualities  which  combine  to  make  the  universal  dimension 
in  which  all  perception  is  possible,  and  all  understanding 
feasible. 

They  stand  in  order  as  the  first,  the  last,  and  the  great- 
est thing  in  the  world. 

Faith  is  the  first  thing  in  the  world.  It  is  first  because 
it  is  the  means  of  contacting  the  source  of  supply.  Faith 
is  an  exalted  reason.  Reason  is  an  extended  vision,  which 

[109] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

is  an  extended  arm,  which  is  an  extended  mouth,  which 
is  an  extended  stomach.  It  is  the  highest  form  of  ap- 
propriating supplies  for  the  universal  hunger,  which 
ranges  from  bread  for  the  stomach  to  spiritual  grace  for 
the  soul.  It  is  first  because  one  cannot  come  to  God  with- 
out first  believing  that  He  is.  It  is  first  because  in  the 
beginnings  of  spiritual  growth  we  commence  with  faith 
alone,  to  which  is  added  knowledge,  and  to  this,  power. 

Hope  is  the  last  thing  in  the  world,  if  for  no  other 
reason  than  when  all  else  is  lost,  we  may  still  have  hope. 
Hope  relates  us  to  the  future  as  memory  does  to  the  past. 
Hope  is  the  positive  pole  of  being,  around  which  the  world 
of  our  thought  and  achievement  revolves.  Hopes  sees  the 
unseen  beyond  the  veil  of  material  things.  It  discovers 
the  boundless  reservoirs  of  spiritual  substance,  which  faith 
may  appropriate  and  love  may  distribute.  Hope  is  the 
pioneer  of  all  progress.  In  the  hour  of  success  hope  is  still 
looking  forward.  In  the  hour  of  adversity  hope  sees  the 
way  out.  Hope  is  the  steadfast  anchor  which  outrides  all 
storm  and  stress. 

Love  is  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world,  because  it  is 
concerned  with  the  not-self.  Faith  and  hope  are  concerned 
primarily  in  the  discovery  and  attainment  of  valuable 
possessions,  while  love  is  concerned  with  their  distribution. 
Faith  and  hope  come  laden  with  arms  full,  but  love  goes 
forth  with  arms  extended  to  scatter  its  treasures  abroad. 
Hope  discovers  the  fields  of  adventure ;  faith  goes  forth  to 
gather  the  fruits  of  conquest,  but  love  distributes. 

[110] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

It  is  conveivable  that  faith  may  fail  in  the  presence  of 
uncertainty,  that  hope  deferred  may  be  dimmed  by  despair, 
but  love  never  fails. 

These  three  abide,  for  they  enable  one  to  live  safely 
between  egotism  on  the  one  hand,  and  altruism  on  the 
other. 

Hope  sees  with  God-like  vision;  faith  achieves  with 
God-like  authority,  while  loves  gives  with  God-like  aban- 
don. God  makes  them  the  abiding  instruments  of  all 
progress,  the  channels  of  all  supply,  and  the  triple  crown 
of  all  virtues.  They  are  the  three  modes  of  the  Divine 
movement  for  establishing  the  kingdom  of  heaven  among 
men. 

IN  HIS  RELATION  TO  LIFE   HERE  AND   HEREAFTER 

Human  life  began  with  God.  It  is  His  Life  in  material 
form,  in  which  it  achieves  countless  personalities.  Each 
individual  existence  can  be  traced  backward  to  a  first 
living  cell.  Before  that  its  origin  arises  in  the  first  great 
Cause,  the  Over  Soul  of  the  universe.  It  lived  in  all  the 
lives  of  countless  living  forms,  not  as  a  separate  con- 
sciousness, but  partaking  of  all  that  occurred  in  the  life  of 
each  form  through  which  it  passed.  This  principle  is  illus- 
trated in  the  case  of  Levi  who  is  represented  as  having 
offered  tribute  to  Melchisedek,  the  High  Priest  of  Heaven, 
while  he  was  yet  in  the  loins  of  his  Grandfather,  Abraham. 
Of  course,  Levi  had  no  separate  consciousness  of  the  active 
part  that  he  was  taking  in  the  proceedings,  but  the  effect 
of  it  was  a  strain  of  heredity  which  fitted  him  to  be  the 
tribal  head  of  the  Levitical  priesthood. 

[in] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

The  Man  of  Nazareth,  pondering  upon  His  antecedent 
life,  saw  so  clearly  the  pathway  of  His  past  in  the  expe- 
riences of  His  human  ancestors,  that  He  said,  with  full 
consciousness  of  its  truth,  "Before  Abraham  was,  I  Am." 
However,  individual  experiences  begin  in  the  moment 
when  the  life  parts  company  from  his  ancestors,  and  begins 
a  new  line  of  succession,  that  is,  the  moment  of  concep- 
tion. From  that  moment  his  experiences  are  his  own, 
although  he  is  powerfully  influenced  by  all  his  uncon- 
scious past,  and  by  his  mother's  mental  states  and  physical 
condition.  When  this  formative  and  dependent  period  of 
his  individual  existence  has  passed  or  is  finished,  a  second 
climax  in  his  life  occurs  at  birth,  when  his  individuality 
enters  upon  conditions  of  full  expression.  He  begins  to  be 
acted  upon  by  the  material  world,  and  to  react  upon  it. 
Sense  perceptions  spring  up,  memory  images  are  summoned 
from  past  perceptions,  comparative  thinking  is  established. 
He  begins  to  distinguish  between  self  and  the  not-self. 
His  affectional  and  emotional  life  begins  to  develop.  His 
body  grows  to  the  stature  and  form  of  family  and  racial 
types;  his  mind  unfolds  into  full  conscious  activity.  He 
exercises  free  initiative  in  all  things.  He  meets  life's  con- 
tingencies and  disposes  of  them  with  freedom  of  choice. 
He  wrestles  with  his  problems,  deals  with  the  ups  and 
downs  of  life — its  vicissitudes — until  character  is  formed, 
personality  is  achieved. 

Sooner  or  later  all  the  intricate  processes  of  his  physical, 
mental  and  moral  life  reach  their  zenith,  and  some,  if 

[112] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

not  all  of  them,  decline  until  he  stands  at  the  border-land 
of  this  life.  He  sees  the  great  Sun  of  light,  of  life,  and  of 
energy,  sinking  into  the  mysterious  West.  Into  this  realm 
he  has  often  peered,  usually  to  draw  back  affrighted  at  its 
mystery.  Sometimes  he  has  dreamed  of  it;  perhaps  he 
has  heard  footfalls  on  its  ethereal  plains,  or  caught  the 
echo  of  familiar  voices  in  the  corridors  of  eternity,  or  has 
felt  the  vaguely  familiar  touch  of  a  hand,  but  has  not 
been  sensitive  enough  to  get  any  continuous  and  intelligent 
message  from  the  realms  of  radiant  light  and  perfect 
truth,  and  boundless  freedom. 

The  heaven-born  ideal  of  perfection  which  has  rested 
upon  some  person  or  thing  and  has  filled  the  mind  with  its 
substance  and  its  inspiration,  is  now  projected  forth  upon 
the  screen  whose  background  is  spiritual  reality,  and  he 
sees  some  representation  of  that  ideal,  like  mother,  or  the 
Virgin  Mary,  or  the  angels,  or  some  loved  human  form, 
or  the  Saviour  Himself,  and  he  knows  that  he  stands  upon 
the  borderland  of  a  new  life.  Farewell  messages  are 
given  to  his  friends,  and  greetings  sometimes  exchanged 
with  the  inhabitants  of  the  spiritual  realm,  and  the 
supreme  climacteric  has  been  passed.  The  God  Who 
gave  of  Himself  has  taken  back  unto  Himself.  Without 
the  sound  of  trumpet  his  spiritual  body,  fashioned  after 
the  form  of  its  earthly  temple,  but  clothed  in  the  glory 
of  its  spiritual  ideal,  steps  forth  into  spiritual  reality, 
clothed  with  the  substance  of  all  life's  thoughts  and  acts. 
He  needs  no  unerring  judge  to  determine  his  state.  He 
steps  forth  to  take  his  place  in  the  next  plane  of  existence, 

[113] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

and  by  the  affinities  of  character  which  is  the  great  law  of 
spiritual  gravitation,  he  lands  in  the  midst  of  those  of 
similar  spiritual  attainments. 

Here  he  still  goes  forward  on  a  limitless  pathway  by 
learning  of  those  who  return  from  their  positions  of 
greater  attainment,  and  by  making  practical  use  of  this 
acquired  knowledge  in  teaching  those  who  are  behind  him 
in  spiritual  understanding.  And  his  growth  may  further 
be  enhanced  by  exercising  his  higher  wisdom  and  power  in 
the  interests  of  those  who  are  yet  earth-bound,  as  a  minis- 
tering spirit,  "ministering  to  those  who  are  heirs  of  salva- 
tion," seeing  their  struggles  and  perplexities  with  clear 
vision.  Knowing  their  outcome  to  be  for  good,  he  sur- 
rounds them  with  guidance  and  loving  influence,  as  a 
mother  surrounds  her  child  and  sees  that  its  problems  are 
but  for  a  moment. 

In  this  sexless  spiritual  world  he  meets  and  renews  all 
the  memories  of  the  earth  life,  and  understands  the 
refining  influence  of  its  hard  knocks.  He  finds  the  ties 
of  earthly  relationship  ended,  and  knows  that  "he  that 
doeth  the  Will  of  God  is  brother,  sister,  wife  or  mother." 
The  love  of  human  relationship  has  ceased,  or  been  merged 
into  Universal  Love.  Earthly  limitations  are  passed.  The 
desire  for  knowledge  is  followed  by  its  possession.  The 
earthly  processes  of  reasoning  which  were  limited  to  a 
few  perceptions,  are  replaced  by  the  open  perception  of  all 
reality.  Human  judgment  which  has  been  limited  to  a 
few  concepts  passes  upward  into  perfect  understanding. 
Memory  which  was  so  often  forgetful  is  quickened  into 

[114] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THEOLOGY 

perfect  grasp  of.  all  the  facts  in  cosmic  consciousness, 
whether  they  were  known  to  him  or  unknown.  Here  the 
dreams  and  ambitions  and  plans  and  hopes,  so  often 
dimmed  and  shattered  by  earthly  impact,  rise  into  reality 
and  possession.  In  this  realm  of  eternal  progress  the 
human  spirit  passes  upward  from  plane  to  plane  of  spir- 
itual knowledge  and  power,  and  passing  eons  find  him 
steadily  enriched  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Body  of  Christ, 
which  is  made  up  of  the  spirits  of  mortals  made  perfect, 
which  is  the  Life  of  God. 

In  this  realm  of  certainty  the  emancipated  soul  looks 
ahead,  to  behold  the  brightest  and  best  of  the  sons  of  the 
morning,  knowing  that  he  shall  come  at  last  to  equal 
attainment.  And  beholding  even  Gabriel,  brightest  Arch- 
angel of  God,  he  shall  hail  him  and  cry  with  prophetic 
certainty — "And  thou,  Gabriel,  standing  in  the  presence 
of  Perfect  Being,  glorious  with  ages  of  growth  and  attain- 
ment, I,  too,  shall  stand  where  thou  standest,  see  with 
equal  vision,  clothed  with  equal  brightness,  crowned  with 
equal  glory,  and  thou  shalt  have  passed  upward  to  other 
heights  of  service  and  attainment." 

He  was  an  illumined  soul  who  said,  in  substance,  when 
our  vision  is  opened  to  behold  God  we  shall  be  like  Him, 
for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is.  Life  here  is  God  coming 
into  material  expression,  "the  Lord  gave."  Death  is  God 
withdrawing  from  material  incarnation,  "the  Lord  hath 
taken  away,"  and  the  eternal  future  is  to  live  in  His 
Perfect  Being.  Therefore,  the  graduate  of  the  University 
of  Hard  Knocks  can  with  full  understanding  say,  "Blessed 
be  the  Name  of  the  Lord." 

[115] 


LIFE'S  SYMPHONY 

To  live  content  with  small  means, 

To  seek  elegance  rather  than  luxury, 

Refinement  rather  than  fashion ; 

To  be  worthy,  not  simply  rich; 

To  study  hard,  think  quietly, 

Talk  gently,  act  frankly  ; 

To  listen  with  open  heart  to  birds  and  stars, 

To  babes  and  sages ; 

To  bear  all  cheerfully,  do  all  bravely; 

Await  occasion,  never  hurry, — 

In  a  word,  to  let  the  spiritual  life 

Grow  up  through  and  above  the  common — 

This  is  to  be  my  "symphony  of  life." 

— Wm.  E.  Charming. 


[116] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  MYSTICS  AND 
SEERS 

AMONG  the  enumerated  gifts  of  the  spirit,  the  gift  of 
prophecy  and  of  interpretation  of  tongues  and 
other  gifts  are  listed,  which  carry  the  Christian 
believer  over  into  the  realm  of  mysticism.  Neither  the 
Old  nor  the  New  Testment  teachings  are  reasonably  in- 
terpretable  apart  from  a  recognition  of  the  mystical  strain 
that  runs  through  them.  Prophets  and  seers  and  specially 
illumined  ones  of  all  ages  past  have  given  utterance  to 
and  recorded  facts  of  knowledge  and  experience  outside 
the  range  of  five-sense  perceptions,  or  three-dimensional 
living.  These  experiences  have  been  grouped  together 
under  the  head  of  mysticism,  the  substance  of  which  is 
that  every  living  soul  by  virtue  of  his  divine  origin  has 
the  power  within  himself  to  hold  direct  communication 
with  God,  without  the  use  of  any  intermediary  what- 
soever. And  in  the  study  of  these  mystics  and  their  expe- 
riences in  all  ages  there  have  come  into  formulation  cer- 
tain methods  by  which  the  mystical  power  may  be  de- 
veloped in  a  great  many  people,  if  not  in  all. 

In  past  times  the  mystics  usually  have  been  men  apart 
from  the  ordinary  walks  and  ways  of  life.  They  neglected 
their  bodies,  exposed  themselves  to  suffering  and  hunger, 
and  isolated  themselves  from  the  usual  habitations  of 
men,  thinking  that  thereby  this  power  was  enhanced. 

[117] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

Modern  mystics  have  found  that  all  of  this  inner  power 
and  perception  can  be  exercised  under  the  normal  condi- 
tions of  life ;  that  the  mystic  has  the  greatest  control  over 
his  secret  powers  when  the  body  is  most  normal  in  its 
functions  and  sensations.  He,  therefore,  gives  attention 
to  having  his  body  which  is  the  instrument  of  his  percep- 
tions and  experiences  in  the  most  perfect  condition.  The 
exercise  of  mystical  power  is  merely  an  extension  of  the 
power  of  perception,  by  which  we  know  things  either 
seen  or  unseen.  All  sense-perception  is  merely  a  projection 
or  extension  of  the  sense  of  touch.  The  lowest  forms  of 
life  have  only  one  sense  to  enable  them  to  obey  the  im- 
pulse to  preserve  life.  That  sense  perception  enables  them 
to  determine  the  difference  between  that  which  is  food 
and  that  which  is  not  food,  and  for  that  stage  of  existence 
no  further  perception  is  necessary.  Nutrition  is  the  first 
demand  of  a  living  organism  which  feels  the  impulse  to 
preserve  life.  As  the  power  to  function  became  more  com- 
plex other  senses  developed.  The  stomach  was  the  first 
organ.  The  mouth  was  an  extended  stomach;  the  hand 
an  extended  mouth ;  the  eye  an  extended  hand ;  the  reason 
an  extended  eye,  and  faith  an  extended  reason. 

Along  with  these  new  methods  of  functioning  the  other 
senses  were  developed.  Now  while  perception  ordinarily 
uses  all  the  five-sense  agencies,  it  is  not  limited  to  this 
use.  It  may  transcend  them  by  simply  ignoring  or  closing 
them  up,  or  it  may  extend  them  almost  indefinitely. 

All  religious  thought  and  teaching  has  had  its  begin- 

[118] 


THE   COLLEGE   OF   MYSTICS  AND  SEERS 

nings  in  the  mystical  experiences  of  the  seers  and  prophets 
of  the  ages  past. 

Since  Adam  talked  with  God  and  heard  Him  walk  and 
speak  in  the  garden  long  ago,  every  definite  advance  in 
religious  thought  has  come  from  some  mystic  who  has 
walked  and  talked  with  God.  Enoch,  Abraham,  Jacob, 
Joseph,  Moses,  Joshua,  and  Melchizedek  were  all  mystics 
of  that  early  time. 

Nor  is  the  exercise  of  this  extended  perception  limited 
to  the  Jewish  peoples  alone  for  the  religious  beginnings 
among  all  peoples  have  started  through  the  development 
of  the  inner  perceptions  so  that  they  were  extended  be- 
yond the  usual  range  of  action. 

Perception  is  an  inner  and  subjective  knowing  which 
later  in  the  thought  process  becomes  an  objective  and  con- 
scious knowing.  We  inwardly  perceive  toward  a  thing 
before  we  are  consciously  aware  of  it.  Thought  activity 
is  both  conscious  and  unconscious,  and  can  never  be  en- 
tirely separated,  and  this  division  of  thought  processes 
applies  to  the  Divine  Intelligence  as  it  does  to  the  human. 
The  objective  side  of  life  in  the  Divine  Being  is  seen  in 
the  discoverable  laws  and  processes  of  the  material  world, 
while  the  subconscious,  hidden  and  Absolute  Life  is  appre- 
hended by  mortals  only  by  means  of  the  mystical  sense. 

This  inner  and  hidden  intelligence  in  man  is  that  which 
constitutes  in  him  the  image  of  the  Divine,  for  it  is  the 
Divine  taking  on  human  expression.  It  is  the  exhaustless 
reservoir  of  power  for  all  achievement.  When  one  dis- 

[119] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

covers  its  presence,  its  nature  and  its  resources,  he  has 
found  the  touchstone  to  all  achievement.  He  needs  only 
to  realize  that  if  he  will  intelligently  set  this  power  to 
work,  he  may  ask  of  it  what  he  will,  and  it  shall  be  done. 

One  of  the  methods  of  calling  forth  these  resources  is 
to  accept  the  fact  of  the  Limitless  Power  within,  and 
visualize  objectively  that  which  we  want  to  take  on  ma- 
terial form,  and  then  hold  the  thing  visualized  as  a  fact 
until  this  inner  power  out  of  its  own  exhaustless  spiritual 
substance  materializes  whatever  we  desire.  So  did  Elijah 
of  old  hold  within  himself  the  perception  of  unwasting 
supply,  and  "the  barrel  of  meal  wasted  not,  neither  did 
the  cruse  of  oil  fail."  So  did  Jesus,  having  His  unseen 
perception  fixed  on  the  Reservoir  of  all  Abundance — His 
oneness  with  the  Father — send  forth  the  five  loaves  and 
three  fishes  to  fill  out  all  the  requirements  for  the  multi- 
tude. He  visualized  it  as  sufficient  and  it  materialized  ac- 
cording to  His  perception  of  reality. 

The  existence  of  this  power  to  view  the  Unseen  Reality 
is  recognized  in  the  Divine  fiat  which  said,  "Look  unto 
Me  and  be  ye  saved."  Naturally  no  demand  of  this  sort 
could  ever  have  any  claim  to  Divine  origin  had  there  not 
been  a  power  of  perception  within  man  to  obey  the  com- 
mand. The  command  assumes  and  challenges  the  use  of 
a  supra-normal  or  incorporeal  eye,  which  is  an  extension 
of  the  other  five  senses  or  avenues  of  perception.  Its 
presence  is  manifested  in  such  incidents  as  Elijah  hearing 
"the  sound  of  abundance  of  rain,"  when  there  was  not  a 

[120] 


THE  COLLEGE   OF   MYSTICS   AND  SEERS 

cloud  in  the  sky;  or  Elisha  seeing  a  "measure  of  fine 
flour  sold  in  the  gate  of  Samaria  on  the  morrow"  at  the 
time  of  great  famine;  or  the  Syrians  "hearing  the  noise 
of  horses  and  chariots,  a  great  host,"  and  fleeing  from  the 
siege  of  Samaria;  or  the  incident  of  Jesus  seeing  Nathaniel 
under  such  physical  conditions  as  to  lead  the  latter  to  be- 
lieve and  to  ascribe  to  the  Master  divine  powers.  These 
are  only  a  few  of  many  recorded  uses  of  this  sixth  sense 
by  which  the  seer  became  aware  of  events  and  facts,  not 
apparent  to  the  five  senses  or  knowable  to  the  ordinary 
methods  of  conscious  thinking. 

The  Master  so  clearly  recognized  this  power  as  an  en- 
dowment of  every  human  being  that  He  said  to 
Nathaniel,  "thou  shalt  see  greater  things  than  these,  thou 
shalt  see  heaven  opened  and  the  angels  descending  on  the 
Son  of  man."  The  thou  is  plural,  thus  including  Nathaniel 
and  all  disciples.  And  this  statement  is  borne  out  by  the 
fact  that  just  such  experiences  are  recorded  in  the  lives 
of  Peter,  John,  Paul,  Philip,  Stephen,  and  many  others 
of  the  early  Christians. 

Just  where  this  place  of  vision  is  may  be  determined 
by  any  one  who  will  steadily  practice  following  his  mind 
down  to  the  threshold  of  sleep,  and  stopping  at  the  point 
where  he  would  otherwise  step  off  into  unconsciousness. 
When  he  can  hold  himself  at  this  zone  that  separates  or 
rather  joins  the  conscious  and  the  unconscious  activities 
he  will  soon  hear  and  see  things  beyond  the  range  of  the 
five  senses.  For  a  time  he  will  find  it  no  easy  task  to  hold 

[121] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

that  level.  Just  a  little  too  much  attention  to  the  uncon- 
scious activities,  and  he  is  alseep,  while  too  much  atten- 
tion by  the  conscious  mind  to  the  things  that  are  reported 
will  close  the  report  of  the  sixth  sense.  After  some  prac- 
tice he  will  find  it  easier  to  maintain  this  level,  and  to  see 
as  did  St.  Paul,  "things  which  are  not  utterable  after  the 
common  methods  of  thinking,"  and  after  a  while  he  will 
be  able  to  drop  into  this  zone  at  any  time  and  anywhere 
he  may  desire  to  ascertain  facts  that  are  not  available  to 
him  through  the  five  senses.  Like  Elisha  of  old,  he  may 
be  talking  with  his  body  servant,  and  at  the  same  time  see 
the  chariots  of  the  hosts  of  the  Almighty. 

And  this  is  a  common  experience  of  the  modern  mystic. 
It  happens  occasionally  in  the  lives  of  many  people  as  a 
mere  incident,  but  a  steady  attention  to  the  laws  by  which 
it  is  produced  will  bring  this  power  into  operation  at  any 
time  the  seer  wills  to  see  or  hear. 

This  extension  of  the  senses  is  found  in  the  every  day 
experiences  of  life.  A  person  beholding  and  following  a 
bird  in  its  flight  will  see  it  when  one  who  tries  to  see  it 
for  the  first  time  will  fail.  The  same  is  true  of  sounds  or 
other  sense  reports.  Many  people  have  had  the  experience 
of  becoming  so  absorbed  in  what  they  are  thinking  about 
as  to  pass  their  best  friends,  looking  squarely  at  them 
and  failing  to  have  the  image  report  in  consciousness,  and 
possibly  "come  to"  with  a  start  and  realize  that  their  at- 
tention has  been  abstracted  away  so  that  the  sense  of  sight 
did  not  report.  One  may  at  will  so  fix  the  attention 

[122] 


THE  COLLEGE   OF   MYSTICS   AND   SEERS 

upon  a  sound  as  to  shut  out  the  report  of  the  eye,  or  gaze 
so  intently  upon  a  scene  as  to  fail  to  register  a  sound,  and 
this  abstraction  may  so  apply  intentionally  to  all  the  senses 
that  by  consistent  practice  one  may  isolate  and  insulate 
himself  from  material  things  and  may  enter  the  secret 
place  at  any  time  and  talk  to  the  Father  of  lights  in 
secret,  and  receive  such  wisdom,  and  power  and  health, 
that  when  he  comes  out  of  the  secret  place  the  Lord  will 
reward  him  openly. 

This  all  indicates  that  the  modern  mystic  may  and  does 
use  these  hidden  forces  in  his  daily  life,  without  going  into 
a  retreat  or  cloister,  or  separating  himself  from  the  daily 
tasks  of  life.  He  uses  this  power  when  he  enters  the  place 
of  prayer.  He  uses  it  when  he  stands  in  the  presence 
of  sickness  and  sees  not  sickness  but  health  for  the  patient. 
He  sees  abundance  in  the  midst  of  the  outer  appearance 
of  poverty.  He  sees  hopeful  conditions  out  of  the  most 
depressing  states.  He  sees  prison  doors  open  when  they 
are  doubly  locked.  He  sees  the  morning  and  deliverance 
when  the  earthbound  walks  the  floor  the  livelong  night 
disturbed  and  regretting. 

Life  holds  a  new  meaning  to  the  mystic  who  discovers 
and  develops  this  sixth  sense,  for  it  opens  unto  him  the 
boundless  resources  of  the  Absolute  Life.  It  places  him 
in  touch  with  the  reservoirs  from  whence  come  all  energy,, 
all  abundance,  and  all  else  that  his  life  ought  to  express. 
It  reveals  to  him  the  source  of  his  being.  Man  first  sought 
his  origin  in  the  dust,  but  the  uplifted  vision  finds  that 

[123] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

his  origin  is  in  God.  The  struggle  is  always  to  keep  this 
vision  fastened  upon  Him  Who  said,  "Look  unto  Me  and 
be  ye  saved." 

The  body,  that  faithful  register  of  all  the  sensations  is 
ever  calling  attention  to  the  ills  and  pains  and  weakness, 
while  the  incorporeal  eye  sees  the  regions  of  unspoilable 
health.  The  five  senses  keep  one  tangled  in  the  wheel  of 
things,  while  this  eye  of  the  soul  beholds  the  changeless 
verities. 

One  looking  out  from  a  twelfth-story  office  sees  brick 
walls,  and  concrete,  and  smokestacks,  and  smudge,  and 
cars,  and  things,  if  he  is  looking  downward ;  but  when  he 
exercises  the  upward  look,  he  sees  the  sky,  the  sun,  the 
moon,  and  the  glories  above  earthliness.  The  downward 
look  of  conscious  thinking  is  concerned  with  honors,  pre- 
ferment, self-exaltation,  and  other  things  that  hold  one 
securely  in  the  net  of  circumstances,  while  the  upward 
look  of  the  sixth  sense,  seeing  the  Changeless  Reality,  is 
indifferent  alike  to  praise,  honors  or  contempt. 

In  carrying  this  power  of  perception  into  its  higher 
reaches  in  obedience  to  the  command  to  "Look  unto  Me," 
it  is  well  to  recognize  that  the  High  and  Uplifted  One 
is  known  in  two-fold  manner.  There  is  the  side  of  the 
Absolute  as  seen  in  material  representation,  the  objective, 
the  revealed  and  apparent,  and  there  is  the  side  of  the 
subjective,  the  hidden  and  the  Absolute,  or  that  side  which 
is  unseeable  and  unknowable  to  sense  perception  and 
mortal  thinking.  This  distinction  is  essential  to  keep  from 

[124] 


THE   COLLEGE   OF  MYSTICS   AND  SEERS 

being  hopelessly  entangled  in  the  contradictions  arising 
out  of  the  relative  and  the  Absolute. 

Being  is  both  relative  and  absolute.  Relative  being  is 
that  which  is  apparent  to  the  senses  and  apprehendable  to 
the  conscious  mind,  while  the  Absolute  is  that  which  is 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  senses,  and  above  purely  intellec- 
tual processes,  and  therefore,  knowable  only  through  the 
use  of  this  sixth  sense. 

The  relative  and  material  is  temporary  and  changing, 
while  the  Absolute  is  Changeless  Reality.  The  Absolute 
is  the  Source  from  which  came  the  seen  and  temporal. 
"The  things  which  are  seen  were  not  made  of  things 
which  do  appear."  They  are  the  surface  things  which 
the  surface  man  may  see,  but  the  Ultimate  Reality  is  not 
discernible  to  the  five  senses,  and  does  not  act  directly  in 
the  range  of  the  three  dimensions.  Only  when  one  has 
developed  the  mystical  sense  so  that  he  can  see  with  this 
higher  vision  will  he  be  able  to  see  the  Unseen,  and  to 
act  in  the  fourth  or  other  higher  dimensions  of  existence. 

This  the  mystic  does  when  he  moves  among  the  three- 
dimensional  things,  enjoying  them  and  triumphing  over 
them,  living  a  natural  and  normal  material  and  objective 
life,  and  again  at  will  any  time  and  anywhere  he  may 
raise  this  sixth  sense  to  behold  fourth-dimensional  activity 
where  the  Absolute  moves  in  ways  that  are  not  human 
ways  and  thinks  in  thoughts  that  are  not  human  thoughts. 
And  here  he  triumphs  and  knows  and  sees  the  Invisible 
and  so  endures  the  material  entanglements,  knowing  that 
they  are  but  for  a  moment. 

[125] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

Vision  has  to  do  with  the  instrument  of  seeing  and  an 
objective.  When  two  persons  look  at  the  same  object, 
one  sees  more  than  the  other,  either  because  the  instrument 
of  vision  is  better  or  the  power  of  perception  is  greater. 
Vision  travels  out  to  its  objective  and  then  there  travels 
back  over  the  visional  track  something  of  the  light,  the 
coloring,  and  the  general  perspective  of  the  object.  Now, 
there  is  set  before  the  sixth  sense,  the  inner  vision  power, 
an  objective  so  perfect  and  complete  that  there  travels  back 
over  the  visional  track  to  the  beholder  all  that  he  has  the 
perceiving  power  to  grasp  and  appreciate.  The  High 
and  Uplifted  One  Who  says  "Look  unto  Me"  is  revealed 
to  him  in  strength,  wisdom,  love,  health,  abundance  and 
all  else  that  he  may  be  able  to  see,  and  by  some  inherent 
power  in  the  self  he  is  at  once  able  to  commence  to 
materialize  and  to  express  those  qualities  in  himself. 

It  is  essential  to  the  mystic's  highest  development  that 
he  shall  get  a  clear  visualization  of  Him  Whose  face 
shineth  upon  us  as  the  sun  in  its  splendor.  Elisha  was 
not  so  much  interested  in  Elijah's  achievements  as  he  was 
in  the  secret  of  his  greatness;  hence  his  demand  was, 
"Where  is  the  God  of  Elijah?"  And  having  found  the 
answer,  he  found  himself  beginning  to  exercise  the  same 
powers  of  achievement  as  his  Master  had  done.  His 
ringers  were  filled  with  a  subtle  magnetism  at  whose  touch 
disease  vanished;  his  breath  was  charged  with  healing 
vapors;  his  words  were  clothed  with  power  to  heal  the 
poisoned  pottage  and  to  cause  the  meal  and  oil  to  increase ; 
his  pathway  was  marked  by  monumental  acts  of  helpful- 

[126] 


THE   COLLEGE   OF   MYSTICS   AND  SEERS 

ness;  he  never  lost  his  high  visioning  power  and  his  very 
bones  were  charged  with  power  to  heal.  The  secret  was 
that  he  found  and  lived  with  a  clear  and  perpetual  view 
of  the  God  of  Elijah. 

Beholding  this  same  I  AM,  there  came  into  Moses'  range 
of  vision  majesty  and  dignity  and  leadership  which  made 
the  strong  and  mighty  follow  this  man  of  eighty  because 
the  meekest  of  men  was  transformed  into  the  image  of 
fadeless  strength,  so  that  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty,  "his  vision  was  not  dimmed  nor  his  natural  force 
abated." 

When  this  uplifted  vision  beholds  Him  there  comes  out 
of  the  regions  of  Unspoilable  Health  power  which  makes 
every  cell  of  the  body  vibrate  with  divine  health  and 
energy.  Beholding  Him,  there  comes  out  of  the  regions 
of  Infinite  Peace  a  calm  and  poise  of  mind  which  is 
undisturbed  by  earthly  cares,  unfrighted  by  prison  bars, 
unshaken  by  any  form  of  material  threat  of  ill.  Beholding 
Him,  there  moves  into  experience  out  of  the  exhaustless 
reservoirs  of  Absolute  Love  immunity  from  all  sin,  from 
all  fear,  from  all  want,  so  that  the  mystic  can  truly  say: 
"I  will  fear  no  evil." 

The  law  of  abstraction  by  which  the  attention  is  called 
from  one  thing  and  directed  to  another  operates  in  a  very 
practical  way  for  relief.  The  things  which  we  do  not  see 
or  otherwise  perceive  do  not  exist  to  us,  and  hence  when 
the  perception  is  ever  fixed  on  Him  Who  is  Absolute 
Health,  Who  is  Spirit,  Who  is  the  Reality  back  of  all 
appearances,  sickness  and  pain  and  evil  and  matter  and 

[127] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

even  death  are  to  us  non-existent.  This  divine  nihilism 
of  material  things  is  seen  in  such  a  statement  as  that  of 
Job  when  he  said,  "Thine  eye  beheld  me  and  I  am 
nothing."  The  clear  vision  of  the  Absolute  suspends 
relative  reality  and  as  the  Absolute  is  constantly  visual- 
ized, the  relative  reality  is  made  to  conform  more  and 
more  to  the  image  of  the  Absolute. 

This  mystical  principle  is  seen  in  the  text:  "For  we  all 
with  unveiled  face  beholding  as  in  a  mirror  the  glory  of 
the  Lord,  are  changed  from  glory  to  glory  after  his  image 
by  the  Lord,  the  Spirit." 

It  was  this  clear  visioning  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  which 
enabled  Him  to  see  His  inherent  oneness  with  the  Abso- 
lute and  to  say,  "The  Father  and  I  are  one";  and  while 
He  attributed  His  words  and  His  works  to  the  Father, 
yet  when  one  came  to  Him,  He  spoke  as  if  He  alone  were 
doing  the  works.  "I  will,  be  thou  clean";  "Take  up  thy 
bed  and  walk" ;  "I  say  unto  you." 

All  others  had  acknowledged  themselves  as  teachers 
and  seekers  after  this  full  vision  of  the  Truth,  and  not 
having  fully  perceived  their  identification  with  the  Life 
of  the  Uplifted  One,  they  confessed  themselves  as  pilgrims 
traveling  toward  a  better  state,  and  it  is  recorded  that 
"These  all  died,  not  having  received  the  promise." 

But  when  the  Master  came  and  entered  into  full  con- 
scious communion  with  the  Father,  He  spoke  not  as  a 
seeker  after  truth,  but  as  the  Truth  Itself.  He  answered 
for  all  time  the  questions  nearest  men's  hearts.  They 
said,  "Show  us  the  truth."  He  answered,  "I  am  the 

[128] 


THE  COLLEGE   OF  MYSTICS  AND   SEERS 

Truth."  They  said,  "Give  us  light."  "I  am  the  Light." 
"I  Am  Life."  "I  Am  the  resurrection."  "Whatsoever 
there  is  of  life  to  be  attained,  I  Am  that."  This  inner 
perception  of  His  Oneness  with  God  gave  that  sense  of 
authority,  so  that  He  spoke  without  a  moment's  hesitation 
as  to  His  right  to  speak,  and  without  a  question  as  to  the 
authority  and  the  effect  of  His  speaking: — Take  up  thy 
bed  and  walk."  "Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee." 

When  He  began  His  ministry  of  healing  His  first 
thought  for  the  people  was,  "Father,  I  will  that  they 
behold  My  glory,"  and  that  glory  was  the  indwelling  of 
the  Absolute  in  Him,  so  that  to  see  Him  was  to  see  the 
Father.  His  second  thought  was,  "Father,  I  pray  that 
they  may  be  one  as  We  are  one,"  that  is,  that  they  might 
realize  that  there  was  within  them  a  oneness  with  the 
Father,  similar  to  His  Own,  and  by  the  virtue  of  which 
all  power  dwelled  in  them. 

Looking  with  this  sixth  sense  upon  the  blind  man,  He 
saw  not  the  blind  eyes,  but  perfect  spiritual  vision  within 
him,  and  the  blind  man's  inner  perception  saw  the  Up- 
lifted One,  the  secret  of  all  power  and  perception,  and 
instantly  the  atoms  of  his  eye  responded  to  the  vibrations 
of  light,  and  he  saw  with  his  material  eyes. 

Always  the  great  Teacher  saw  in  every  case,  not  a  sick 
person,  but  one  well  and  whole.  He  saw  not  the  withered 
arm,  but  an  arm  stretched  forth.  He  saw  not  a  woman 
bent  double,  but  a  woman  made  straight  and  well.  He 
saw  not  deaf  ears  and  a  dumb  tongue,  but  ears  that  heard 
and  a  tongue  that  spoke. 

[129] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

Every  healer  must  be  enough  of  a  mystic  to  be  able  to 
exercise  some  of  this  visional  power,  that  he  may  perceive 
the  real  Divine  Self  of  the  patient,  clothed  in  the  perfect 
health  that  is  his  in  the  realm  of  reality.  Seeing  that 
spiritual  self  clothed  in  the  Unspoilable  Health  of  the 
Absolute,  he  must  steadfastly  behold  him  as  perfectly 
well  and  whole,  and  with  unfailing  certainty,  out  of  the 
unseen  regions  of  His  Own  Health,  the  Great  Physician 
will  manifest  His  health  in  the  body  of  the  patient. 

Just  as  the  visional  power  beholding  reality  causes  that 
reality  to  manifest  in  the  body  in  the  form  of  health,  the 
same  process  of  the  Seer  beholds  the  sinner,  taken,  as  in 
one  case,  in  the  very  act,  so  clothed  with  the  Divine  Love, 
that  her  sins  are  dissolved  in  that  matchless  love,  and  He 
said  to  her,  "Go  thy  way  and  sin  no  more."  Just  as  the 
Absolute  Health  is  the  remedy  for  all  disease  when  the 
inner  vision  beholds,  so  is  the  Absolute  Love  the  solvent 
for  all  sin  when  the  inner  eye  is  uplifted  to  the  Absolute 
Righteousness.  The  moment  that  Mary  Magdalen  saw 
herself  as  Jesus  saw  her,  she  arose  and  became  from  that 
moment  His  most  devoted  disciple.  There  was  no  sort 
of  machinery  to  be  used  to  make  her  a  good  woman.  She 
needed  only  to  see  herself  as  Divine  Love  saw  her,  and 
she  was  forgiven  and  perfectly  whole. 

This  upward  visioning  is  the  channel  of  the  re-creating 
power.  Every  mind  that  ever  became  vitiated  or  body 
that  became  diseased  has  done  so  because  the  vision  has 
not  been  stayed  on  Him.  They  can  be  restored  only  by 
repentance — a  return  of  the  vision  to  its  one  Objective, 

[130] 


THE  COLLEGE   OF   MYSTICS   AND  SEERS 

"Look  unto  Me."  Every  call  to  repentance  has  in  it  the 
principle  of  getting  the  eye  again  focused  on  the  High 
and  Uplifted  One,  for  on  the  pathway  of  such  vision 
power  there  is  no  sin,  sickness,  pain,  death  nor  lack. 
These  appear  when  we  look  downward  to  material  things. 
They  are  remitted  when  we  take  steadfast  notice  that 
Deity  beholds.  This  upward  visioning  makes  us  free  from 
the  law  of  sin  and  death.  It  gives  us  the  secret  of  the 
mastery  of  all  things.  When  the  inner  eye  becomes 
adjusted  to  beholding  the  Absolute,  we  hear  Him  say, 
"Concerning  the  work  of  My  hands,  command  ye  Me." 
This  means  that  authority  over  all  things  is  given,  so  that 
old  things  pass  away,  are  remitted,  and  behold  all  things 
are  made  new,  by  looking  unto  the  Great  Original.  "No 
man  can  see  God  and  live,"  after  his  former  estate.  Fic- 
titious values  pass  away.  All  things  assume  their  true 
value  in  the  light  of  higher  visioning.  Grasping  for  the 
things  of  matter  is  forgotten  in  the  passion  to  serve.  Bond- 
age to  downward  visioning  is  dissolved,  and  the  untram- 
melled soul  salutes  God.  Then  the  soul  perceives  that  be- 
yond all  dualities,  such  as  good  and  evil,  stands  the  Lord, 
the  Changeless. 

With  the  coming  of  the  Absolute  into  the  relative  there 
arises  duality  of  expression.  Light  and  its  absence  called, 
darkness ;  pure  bliss  becomes  both  pleasure  and  pain ;  good 
has  its  negative  expression  of  evil ;  the  perfect  is  shadowed 
with  imperfection;  reality  is  hidden  by  the  apparent;  all 
expression  is  a  mixture — a  duality.  Back  of  these  the  up- 

[131] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

lifted  vision  beholds  the  "light  in  which  is  no  darkness  at 
all,"  the  truth  in  which  is  no  error,  the  goodness  in  which 
there  can  be  no  mixture,  the  health  in  which  there  is  no 
disease,  and  the  abundance  in  which  there  is  no  poverty. 

Looking  to  the  body  and  mind  as  if  they  were  the 
sources  of  health  and  truth  we  shall  never  understand  how 
to  arouse  and  maintain  fadeless  strength.  Rather  the  body 
will  be  clothed  with  weakness  and  disease,  and  the  mind 
with  gloom  and  fear.  But  when  the  inner  vision  goes 
forth  in  this  secret  viewing  of  the  Ultimate  and  the  Un- 
contaminated,  then  the  Unspoilable  Wholesomeness  laughs 
in  the  substance  of  our  bodies.  This  is  "the  path  that  no 
fowl  knoweth,  the  vulture's  eye  hath  not  seen  it,  the 
young  lion  hath  not  trodden  on  it,  nor  the  fierce  lion 
passed  it  by."  It  is  the  highway  upon  which  the  uplooker 
moves  out  from  the  causes  of  calamity.  Walking  here  he 
beholds,  "the  earth  and  its  inhabitants  are  dissolved." 
Evil  has  no  substance.  Matter  is  not.  The  world  is 
nothing.  They  are  relative  reality,  and  are  nullified  by 
looking  to  the  Divine  Original.  This  nihilism  of  material 
conditions,  operates  in  one  case  in  the  readjustment  of 
environment.  In  another  case  it  will  bring  forgetfulness 
of  environment.  For  some  it  is  the  joy  of  shining  vibrant, 
physical  health.  For  others  it  is  forgetfulness  that  the 
body  exists. 

Beyond  all  the  machinery  of  health  stands  the  Un- 
spoilable Health,  saying,  "I  Am  the  Lord  that  healeth 
thee,"  waiting  only  the  upward  look  that  He  may  come 

[132] 


THE  COLLEGE   OF  MYSTICS  AND  SEERS 

"with  healing  in  His  wings,"  and  make  us  whole  by  re- 
mitting our  diseases. 

Back  of  all  ecclesiastical  machinery  for  salvation  stands 
the  Perfect  Love,  in  the  light  of  Whose  Countenance  all 
our  sins  are  dissolved. 

This  power  of  secret  vision  has  had  various  terms  used 
to  describe  it,  and  none  more  fitting  than  that  in  the 
llth  Chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  in  which 
faith  is  the  mystical  power  that  withers  the  common  law, 
"stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  violence  of 
fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  opened  prison  bars, 
etc."  It  opened  the  heart  of  Job  to  see  an  unlimited  path- 
way of  service  and  enlargement  and  to  manifest  Divine 
patience.  It  took  the  shrink  out  of  Jacob.  It  taught  David 
the  gentleness  that  is  the  secret  of  greatness.  It  made  the 
lips  of  Isaiah  clean.  It  disclosed  to  the  Man  of  Nazareth 
that  greatness  is  bedded  in  willingness  to  serve.  The  lan- 
guage of  the  Fundamental  Knower,  the  hidden  man  of 
the  heart,  without  beginning  of  days,  and  universal,  is  "I 
Am  power  incarnated  to  serve,"  and  this  language  faith 
alone  can  perceive. 

Faith,  the  ancient  term  for  this  inner  visioning,  dis- 
covers to  the  uplooker  that  authority  is  resident  in  the 
King  of  Kings,  and  that  He  is  partaker  of  that  authority. 
"All  power  in  heaven  and  earth  are  then  given"  to  him, 
so  that  he  may  command  armies,  as  did  Joshua;  command 
the  weather,  as  did  Elijah;  or  lions,  as  did  Daniel;  or 
fire  as  did  the  one  in  fourth  dimension  who  imparted  his 

[133] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

resistive  qualities  to  the  three  Hebrew  children;  or  ma- 
terial growth  as  did  Jesus  with  bread,  and  fish,  and  wine; 
or  chemical  action  as  did  Paul  when  he  shook  off  the 
deadly  serpent  and  suffered  no  harm.  Or,  as  did 
lamblichus,  of  Chalcis,  who  found  that  the  weather  obeyed 
him  and  eagles  flew  hither  and  yon  at  his  insistence. 

Because  of  these  triumphs  which  certain  men  of  every 
age  have  achieved  after  speaking  with  commanding  de- 
termination to  their  invisible  powers,  they  conceived  that 
there  must  be  an  order  of  invisible  powers  in  the  universe 
which  is  always  at  the  bidding  of  man.  This  sense  of  the 
mystery  of  man's  inborn  authority  has  been  the  secret  at- 
traction that  has  drawn  them  to  obey  the  Supreme  Edict, 
"Look  unto  Me,"  and  looking  they  have  found  that  the 
will  to  command  the  Supreme  Presence  finds  its  authority 
in  the  revelation  that  God  is  the  Universal  Servitor.  Be- 
holding this  truth,  the  lowliest  of  men  rose  up  and  said, 
"All  power  in  heaven  and  earth  is  given  unto  Me,"  and 
He,  with  perfect  illumination  claimed  the  same  authority 
over  devils,  disease  and  death,  for  everyone  who  should 
go  forth  in  His  Name,  and  the  fact  that  these  signs  fol- 
lowed attested  that  the  disciples  had  entered  upon  his 
Divine  birthright,  and  was  endued  with  authority  to 
overcome  the  world. 

It  was  the  Supreme  Genius  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  to 
discern  and  show  that  the  root  of  authority  in  man  lay  in 
his  relationship  to  the  Supreme  Good  Will.  "Thus  saith 
the  Lord,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  and  His  maker,  con- 

[134] 


THE   COLLEGE   OF   MYSTICS   AND  SEERS 

cerning  the  work  of  my  hands,  command  ye  Me."  He 
spoke  and  gave  His  disciples  courage  to  speak  as  lords  of 
the  Obedient  God.  Blooming  out  of  lowliness  into  Su- 
preme Authority  He  tells  us  how.  Speak  like  masters,  to 
the  Divinity  of  Lazarus,  to  the  man  with  the  impotent 
arm,  to  the  mountain,  to  the  sycamore  tree.  After  this 
manner,  speak  ye:  Thy  Kingdom  come!  Thy  Will  be 
done!  Thine  is  the  Kingdom  forever!  Stretch  forth  thine 
hand!  I  will!  Be  thou  clean!  Come  out  of  him!  Rise  up 
and  walk!  Go  thy  way!  Be  opened! 

This  same  consciousness  of  the  Eternal  was  in  some 
measure  in  Job,  Jacob,  Johua,  and  others  who  rose  to  the 
heights  of  courage  to  command  the  Willing  Obedience 
Who  is  ever  challenging  us  with  the  words,  "See,  I  have 
set  thee  this  day  over  the  nations  and  over  the  kingdoms." 
"Lo,  I  look  toward  you  waiting."  "Concerning  the  works 
of  my  hands,  command  ye  Me."  And  these  seers  rose  to 
the  inborn  authority  over  surrounding  conditions.  They 
saw  and  spoke  not  of  outward  conditions  but  of  inward 
fact  as  it  was  held  in  the  mystery  of  the  Kingdom  of  the 
Conquering  Actual.  And  it  is  a  challenge  to  every  soul 
who  by  his  downwad  viewing  in  the  past  has  walled  him- 
self in  with  feebleness,  sickness  and  defeat,  to  look  upward 
into  the  vast  Countenance  of  the  Willing  Good,  realize 
his  oneness  with  Him,  and  proclaim  with  all  boldness,  I 
am  strength ;  I  am  health ;  I  am  peace ;  I  am  what  I  wish 
to  be,  will  to  be,  for  the  Universal  Obedience  worketh  in 
me,  and  His  Kingdom  is  come. 

[135] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

Following  our  Great  Example  we  are  to  emulate  His 
works.  "If  ye  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things 
which  are  above."  Live,  think,  speak  in  the  realm  of 
authority  and  power.  After  this  manner  speak  thee: 
"Keep  me  ever  facing  Thee:  Deliver  Thou  me  from 
evil :  Thou  art  the  Overpowering  Obedience.  I  owe  Thee 
bold  command,  O  Thou  Owner  of  all  the  Kingdoms.  In 
Thy  Name  I  will  speak,  and  it  shall  be  done;  will  com- 
mand and  it  shall  stand  fast."  And  in  the  midst  of  im- 
possible conditions  there  shall  speak  in  the  ear  of  the  soul, 
"Thy  God  Whom  thou  serveth,  He  will  deliver  thee,  for 
the  God  of  the  universe  serves  those  who  call  with  holy 
boldness." 

Thus  is  faith  the  secret  visioning  power,  the  confidence 
of  things  chosen.  It  is  attainable  only  with  singleness  of 
purpose  and  lowliness  of  heart.  We  have  only  to  remem- 
ber the  apostolic  precedent  to  find  that  they  who  sought 
the  highest  with  the  greatest  humility  spake  with  such 
boldness  as  to  put  all  their  enemies  to  confusion. 

Faith  is  nothing  less  than  kingship  to  command  the 
sick  to  be  well,  the  mind  to  be  at  peace,  and  the  bondage 
of  fear  to  cease.  It  is  the  key  to  His  Kingdom.  It  dis- 
closes to  us  the  secret  power  of  the  Great  Servitor,  and 
gives  us  the  secret  of  all  attainment.  He  that  is  greatest 
among  you,  let  him  be  the  servant  of  all.  Looking  upward 
with  this  extended  vision,  the  soul  finds  the  mystery  of 
the  Divine  Obedience  everywhere,  awaiting  the  rise  of  a 
heaven-planted  boldness  to  command.  If  we  have  faith 

[136] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  MYSTICS   AND  SEERS 

as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  we  shall  say  to  this  mountain- 
ous obstacle  of  poverty,  "be  thou  cast  into  the  sea,"  or  to 
this  mocking  fig  tree  of  disease,  "be  thou  plucked  up,"  or 
to  blindness  of  mind,  "be  thou  opened,"  and  know  before 
we  speak  that  it  shall  be  so. 

The  New  Testament  is  filled  with  statements  which  can 
be  interpreted  only  on  the  hypothesis  that  there  is  in  every 
soul  the  power  to  apprehend  the  Supreme,  without  the 
necessary  use  of  any  intermediary.  Its  great  ideal  of  self- 
mastery  is  attainable  only  on  the  assumption  that  the  soul 
has  immediate  access  to  Unlimited  Resources.  Man  can 
work  out  his  own  salvation  only  because  it  is  God  that 
worketh  in  him  both  to  will  and  to  do.  This  secret 
identification  with  the  Divine  is  the  basic  truth,  the  know- 
ing which  brings  emancipation  from  the  bondage  of  the 
senses.  The  mysticism  of  the  New  Testament  centered  in 
what  was  called  the  Christing,  the  anointing.  It  consisted 
in  becoming  conscious  of  inherent  oneness  with  God.  The 
knowing  of  this  Supreme  Truth  was  bedded  in  the  purpose 
to  live  the  truth.  The  fact  of  this  oneness  with  the  Divine 
had  always  existed,  but  to  become  conscious  of  it,  and  to 
make  mankind  conscious  of  it,  was  the  effort  at  which  all 
the  mystics  and  seers  of  the  ages  had  been  unknowingly 
striving.  St.  Paul  giving  to  us  the  heart  of  mystical 
Christianity  said,  "the  mystery  which  was  hidden  for  ages 
is  now  revealed  unto  us  by  the  prophets  and  Apostles, 
Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory." 

In  the  development  of  this  consciousness,  a  man  is  rep- 

[137] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

resented  as  being  conceived  and  born  into  spiritual  con- 
sciousness. He  is  represented  as  a  babe  in  the  Christing 
or  anointing.  He  rises  to  fuller  consciousness,  and  is  a 
child  in  the  knowledge  of  his  Divine  relationship.  He 
attains  at  last  to  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness 
of  this  anointing  or  Christing.  He  moves  onward  still  to 
the  place  of  Supreme  inner  visioning,  to  say,  "I  live,  and 
yet  not  I  live,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  St.  John  spoke 
of  this  anointing,  this  Christing,  which  abideth,  and  which 
made  one  so  fully  realize  his  resources  in  Being  that  he 
needed  not  that  anyone  should  teach  him,  but  knew  all 
things.  And  just  as  this  mystical  perception  of  God,  ac- 
cording to  St.  John,  brings  us  into  touch  with  all  knowl- 
edge, it  also  makes  available  to  us  the  power,  the  presence, 
the  love,  the  peace,  and  all  the  completeness  of  that  High 
and  Mighty  One,  Whose  fiat  still  challenges  all  that  is 
within  man,  "Look  unto  Me  and  be  ye  saved"  from  every 
material  impediment  into  every  spiritual  privilege. 


[138] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PALEONTOLOGY 

A  STUDY  OF  FOSSILS  AND   SHELLS 

THE  progress  of  natural  history  is  traced  in  the 
records  of  its  remains.  Likewise,  we  may  trace 
human  progress  by  study  of  the  fragments  or  re- 
mains of  ancient  civilizations,  especially  the  religious 
features  of  them,  out  of  which  they  have  sprung,  by  which 
they  have  been  built,  and  through  which  they  have  per- 
ished. Just  as  the  naturalist  is  able  from  a  single  bone  to 
reconstruct  a  complete  figure  of  the  ancient  monsters  that 
roamed  the  earth,  so  we  may  from  an  occasional  fossil  re- 
construct the  monstrous  deities  that  in  the  fancy  of  ignor- 
ance peopled  the  skies,  ran  riot  on  earth,  and  played  havoc 
with  the  affairs  of  men. 

THE   FALL  OF  MAN 

This  ancient  fossil  has  done  yeoman's  service  in  the  in- 
terest of  bad  theology.  In  the  scientific  formula  of  crea- 
tion in  which  a  state  of  divine  consciousness  took  on 
thought  form,  and  was  called  by  name,  and  then  God  be- 
came that  which  he  thought  and  called  by  name,  we 
have  the  coming  of  life  out  of  the  absolute  into  the  rela- 
tive, out  of  the  unlimited  into  the  limited  and  this  is 
really  the  "fall"  and  although  man  was  potentially  in  the 
first  germ  of  life,  he  had  actively  nothing  to  do  with  the 
Fall.  If  the  old  allegory  seems  to  picture  a  sudden  fall, 

[139] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

it  is  because  we  have  misread  the  story.  The  Fall  was  a 
gradual  descent  from  God,  just  as  the  restoration  is  a 
gradual  evolution  back  toward  the  source  of  being. 

One  of  the  modern  fossils  is  that  of  Reincarnation.  It 
seems  to  put  a  premium  on  trifling  with  the  opportunities 
of  this  life  in  the  idea  that  by  a  return  again  one  may  re- 
deem the  misspent  life.  The  only  conceivable  purpose  of 
one  incarnation  is  to  give  form  to  an  individual  expression 
of  spirit,  and  when  that  is  done  the  primary  purpose  of 
incarnation  is  accomplished.  A  body  is  not  essential  to  the 
development  of  spiritual  excellencies.  Having  obtained  a 
spiritual  body  through  the  incarnation  of  life  in  a  physical 
one,  man  may  not  return  to  the  limitations  of  the  physical, 
for  the  gate  is  closed  and  the  flaming  sword  of  the  truth 
blocks  the  backward  move,  and  illumines  the  way  on 
which  he  must  go  forth  and  find  the  Absolute. 

Another  choice  fossil  is  that  of  poverty.  That  the  poor 
are  the  specially  favored  of  the  Lord.  "The  poor  ye  have 
always  with  you,"  is  a  favorite  text  to  prove  that  it  is  the 
decree  of  Divine  providence  rather  than  a  condition  out 
of  wrong  thinking  and  wrong  action.  Poverty,  like  every- 
thing else,  is  primarily  a  state  of  consciousness  finding  ex- 
pression. An  idea  that  lies  at  the  base  of  most  poverty  is 
the  notion  that  there  is  not  enough  to  go  round.  There- 
fore somebody  must  be  short,  and  the  self-righteous  martyr 
decides  that  he  can  endure  it  better  perhaps  than  some- 
one else,  and  thus  settles  down  to  make  poverty  a  mark 
of  merit.  After  all  "A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the 

[140] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PALEONTOLOGY 

abundance  of  the  things  he  possesseth"  but  in  that  which 
he  is.  If  he  is  rich  in  those  ideas  of  reality  as  Life,  Truth, 
Love,  Wisdom  and  Harmony,  he  will  not  be  much  con- 
cerned about  "things"  although  he  will  have  plenty. 

It  may  not  be  God's  will.  Nothing  has  been  so  over- 
worked as  this  idea  that  an  absentee  God  may  for  some 
reason  which  he  does  not  make  known,  think  it  best  not 
to  give  relief.  And  the  sufferer  enjoys  a  bit  of  self- 
martyrdom  by  quoting,  "Whom  the  Lord  loveth  he 
chasteneth,"  and  if  he  loves  us  much  he  afflicts  us  much, 
and  when  things  get  to  coming  thick  and  fast  the  sufferer 
prides  himself  that  he  is  one  of  the  Lord's  pets.  Most 
human  fathers  would  not  wait  a  minute  to  give  relief  to 
a  child  of  his  if  it  was  in  his  power  to  do  it,  and  surely 
God  must  be  as  good  as  an  earthly  father!  The  Master 
said,  "How  much  more  shall  your  heavenly  Father  give 
good  things  to  them  that  ask  Him."  That  ought  to  end 
that  old  fossil  but  unfortunately  it  doesn't.  People  still 
stick  in  that  old  shell  because  they  don't  want  to  shoulder 
the  responsibility  and  do  the  work  that  will  bring  them 
out  of  it. 

One  of  these  fossil  ideas  was  that  God  was  a  big  man 
with  human  passions,  ruling  the  world  as  it  suited  His 
whim,  changing  His  attitude  toward  it  for  any  reason,  and 
especially  when  displeased,  and  this  idea  is  embalmed  in 
some  of  the  hideous  idols  which  have  expressed  men's  con- 
ception of  their  deities.  Fragments  of  this  old  fossil  are 
found  in  the  literature  of  earlier  religions,  and  is  apparent 

[141] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

in  the  beliefs  of  some  today,  who  vainly  think  that  God 
will  change  His  purposes  or  suspend  His  laws,  to  do  for 
them  personally,  regardless  of  the  interests  of  the  whole 
race. 

Another  of  this  family  of  fossils  is  the  idea  of  favoritism, 
expressed  in  the  belief  of  being  the  elect  and  specially 
favored,  which  has  tinctured  all  beliefs.  The  elect  alone 
were  considered.  All  others  were  Gentiles  or  dogs  in  the 
category  of  opprobrium.  The  elect  were  not  to  consider 
them,  nor  have  any  dealings  with  them.  The  elect  were 
in  special  favor  here,  and  were  safe  hereafter — regardless. 

This  ancient  idea  was  reduced  to  mathematical  exact- 
ness and  a  high  degree  of  refinement,  so  that  the  number 
of  the  saved  could  not  be  changed.  It  was  not  a  matter 
of  merit,  but  of  arbitrary  favoritism.  And  lest  some  ray 
of  hope  might  lift  the  gloom  of  the  non-elect  even  that 
mercy  was  blocked  by  constructing  a  future  atmosphere 
of  fire  and  brimstone,  whose  boundaries  opened  only  in- 
ward. Thus  was  fixed  the  final  and  irretrievable  condi- 
tion of  the  most  of  the  race,  old,  young,  and  "infants  a 
span  long."  It  was  a  fascinating  belief  for  dyspeptics  and 
hypochondriacs,  and  other  physically  and  mentally  ab- 
normal people.  This  God  of  all  human  attributes  except 
limitless  power  thus  decreed  the  number  of  the  saved  and 
the  number  of  the  lost  because  He  foresaw  it  would  be 
that  way.  Such  a  conception  was  no  less  than  diabolism 
in  the  will  of  God. 

This  fossil  idea  was  moderated  somewhat  to  the  form 

[142] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PALEONTOLOGY 

that  God  foresaw  just  how  things  were  going  to  come 
out,  but  allowed  countless  millions  to  be  born,  knowing 
them  to  be  elected  to  such  a  fate.  That  was  no  less  than 
diabolism  in  the  love  of  God. 

In  the  mechanism  of  this  ancient  fossil,  a  scheme  was 
worked  out,  by  which  one  sent  from  God  and  partaking 
of  His  nature,  should  suffer  all  the  present  and  future  re- 
sults of  sin,  which  were  really  coming  to  the  elect,  and  by 
this  vicarious  atonement,  which  they  were  bound  to  ac- 
cept because  it  was  eternally  determined  that  they  should 
accept,  their  future  bliss  was  assured,  no  matter  what  they 
might  do  or  not  do. 

This  doctrine  of  partialism  finds  its  echo  today  in  the 
bigotry  of  denominationalism,  in  which  each  particular 
body  esteems  that  it  holds  the  essential  truth,  and  that  its 
adherents  are  in  the  special  favor  of  the  Lord.  There  are, 
no  doubt,  some  good  people  among  the  others,  and  it  is 
piously  hoped  that  they  may  get  to  heaven! 

The  University  of  Hard  Knocks  has  graduated  some 
of  its  pupils  from  the  College  of  Paleontology,  and  has 
set  them  free  from  the  reign  of  fossils  and  shells. 

Here  and  there  some  bold  prophet  has  seen  and  pro- 
claimed that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons  or  peoples  or 
places;  others  have  declared  that  while  sin  may  be  visited 
to  the  third  and  fourth  generation,  righteousness  is  visited 
to  a  thousand  generations ;  that  while  sin  has  consequences 
reaching  into  another  world,  righteousness  has  con- 
sequences and  potencies  reaching  into  all  eternities.  Others 

[143J 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

have  seen  that  the  Divine  Father  of  the  spirits  of  all 
flesh  can  be  finally  happy  only  when  all  His  children  are 
home  or  coming  home ;  that  all  are  the  objects  of  the  love 
that  never  faileth;  that  is  not  limited  as  to  means  or 
places ;  and  has  all  the  time  and  all  the  eternities  to  bring 
them  all  into  harmony  with  Him. 

One  of  the  most  paralyzing  of  the  shells  in  which  people 
take  refuge  from  the  ceaseless  prod  of  the  principle  of 
growth,  is  the  idea  that  any  final  statement  of  the  truth 
has  been  made  or  can  be  made.  Nothing  so  cramps  the 
rising  aspirations  of  the  soul  as  to  feel  that  there  are  no 
new  fields  to  be  explored,  nor  new  expressions  of  the 
truth  to  be  given.  The  only  authoritative  standards  of 
the  truth  are  those  of  human  experience,  and  the  volume 
and  variety  of  that  increases  with  every  generation,  and 
reaches  greater  purity  as  the  level  of  racial  development 
rises  ever  upward. 

Another  ancient  shell  is  the  substitution  of  a  form  or 
symbol  for  the  life  and  power  for  which  it  once  stood,  and 
the  worship  of  the  form  goes  onward  steadily,  while  its 
glory  has  departed. 

Another  ancient  shell  exalted  into  a  fetish,  is  that  one 
called  authority.  Some  people  look  to  the  ministry  for 
authority,  until  they  behold  men  and  women  with  no  min- 
isterial sanction,  moving  the  multitudes  up  to  higher  liv- 
ing, and  they  learn  that  authority  is  vested  somewhere  else. 
Others  look  to  an  authoritative  church  for  the  final  word, 
until  they  discover  that  people  with  no  churchly  affilia- 

[144] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PALEONTOLOGY 

tions  are  living  the  life  of  God  among  men,  and  they  know 
that  final  authority  does  not  rest  in  the  church.  Others 
think  they  find  the  final  authority  in  an  inspired  and  in- 
fallible book,  only  to  find  that  new  truth  and  new  adapta- 
tions of  the  truth  are  constantly  being  brought  to  the 
knowledge  of  men.  And  they  come  at  last  to  realize  that  final 
authority  is  vested  in  the  individual  consciousness  because 
it  has  the  power  to  consciously  contact  God  without  any 
intermediary  whatsoever.  This  does  not  for  a  moment  de- 
preciate their  value  as  agencies  and  instruments,  but  it 
relieves  them  from  trying  to  maintain  an  impossible  pin- 
nacle such  as  final  authority. 

One  of  the  popular  shells  from  at  least  mediaeval  times 
is  the  resurrection  of  the  physical  body.  Sometimes  it  is 
assumed  that  it  will  be  the  identical  particles  which  were 
in  the  body  at  the  hour  of  dissolution.  Others  thought 
that  it  would  be  the  same  body,  but  spiritualized  in  some 
way  which  they  left  to  the  Lord,  after  they  had  appointed 
the  task.  A  man  who  can  believe  it  in  the  face  of  the 
facts  involved  could  believe  any  other  thing  regardless  of 
the  facts.  The  difficulties  are  not  enumerated  here,  but 
the  simple  fact  that  "there  is  a  natural  body  and  there  is 
a  spiritual  body,"  right  here  and  now,  and  that  the  event 
which  we  call  death  marks  the  separation  of  the  two,  and 
the  rising  of  the  spiritual  body  into  its  glory  and  triumph, 
points  out  a  rational  form  of  belief. 

Related  to  this  was  another  which  has  given  many  a 
heartache,  howbeit,  it  may  have  sometimes  furnished  a 

[145] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

motive  for  reformation.  It  is  the  idea  that,  with  the  resur- 
rection of  the  identical  body,  there  is  a  continuance  or 
resumption  of  the  relationships  growing  out  of  this  human 
period  of  our  lives.  The  Master  clearly  set  aside  one 
feature  of  it  by  saying  that  the  woman  of  numerous  hus- 
bands would  belong  to  none  of  them  for  that  life  knows 
no  such  thing  as  marriage.  Likewise  He  set  aside  the 
other  features  of  human  relationship  by  saying  that  "he 
that  did  the  will  of  God,  the  same  was  His  sister,  His 
brother,  and  His  mother." 

One  of  the  fossils  that  has  done  yeoman's  service  is  the 
idea  of  a  judgment  day  with  its  great  white  throne,  and 
all  the  appointments  of  an  earthly  tribunal,  before  which 
all  living  should  in  turn  pass.  All  this  in  the  face  of  the 
fact  that  with  such  an  arrangement  some  of  us  would 
have  to  wait  for  several  eternities  to  find  out  our  fate. 
And  also  in  the  face  of  the  Master's  statement  that  "now 
is  the  Judgment  of  this  world;"  the  record  that  Judas 
went  to  his  own  place ;  and  the  statement  of  St.  Paul,  that 
he  desired  to  depart  and  "be  with  Christ."  The  judgment 
is  now  in  session,  and  no  man  needs  anything  more  than 
the  still  small  voice  to  tell  him  just  how  it  is  with  him, 
and  the  resurrection  is  now  proceeding.  There  is  no  wait- 
ing nor  uncertainty.  We  continue  after  death  just  where 
we  left  off  here.  Personal  identity  and  recognition  are 
in  no  wise  predicated  on  a  material  resurrection,  nor  does 
our  future  depend  on  anything  else  but  character. 

The  Second  Coming  of  Christ  as  presented  usually  has 

[146] 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  PALEONTOLOGY 

mystified  more  people,  because  of  the  manifest  absurdity  of 
applying  the  prophecies  of  the  event  to  any  physical  ap- 
pearance. The  foolish  claims  of  the  Millerites  and  other 
adventists  of  even  the  present  day  only  show  how  the 
Master's  Words  concerning  His  second  coming  have  been 
misunderstood.  Yet  it  is  but  history  repeating  itself,  for 
the  first  coming  did  not  in  any  sense  meet  the  material 
expectations  of  the  people  of  the  promised  Messiah,  simply 
because  they  had  misread  the  nature  and  significance  of 
the  event.  John  said  to  them,  "there  standeth  one  among 
you  whom  ye  know  not,"  and  it  is  true  today.  The  Christ 
is  come  in  the  sense  that  He  is  promised,  and  few  know 
Him  because  the  world  and  the  church  have  misunder- 
stood His  words.  But  the  steadily  growing  volume  of 
Christ-consciousness  must  soon  make  the  blindest  see  and 
accept  His  presence  and  reign  of  power. 

Another  hampering  fossil  in  its  effects  on  the  growth  of 
character  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Vicarious  Atonement,  in 
that  it  purports  to  do  for  others  what  they  ought  to  do 
for  themselves.  This  violates  a  law  of  spiritual  economics, 
not  to  mention  the  patent  impossibility  of  one  man  putting 
his  hand  in  the  fire  and  another  getting  the  burn.  The 
theory  properly  belongs  to  an  age  when  fear  was  the 
supreme  motive  in  religion,  but  it  can  have  no  place  in  an 
age  when  love  is  the  motive  of  religious  thought  and  ac- 
tion. The  At-one-ment  stands  a  changeless  fact,  but  the 
vicarious  theory  of  it  is  to  be  classed  with  that  pagan  con- 
ception that  "God  was  reconciled  to  us  by  the  death  of 
His  Son." 

[147] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

These  and  many  other  fossils  and  shells  cast  off  and  out- 
worn in  which  many  people  still  find  a  seeming  security 
like  the  hermit  crab,  all  have  had  a  part  and  served  a  pur- 
pose, lor  they  stood  for  some  truth  which  they  have  long 
ceased  to  represent.  They  are  old  wine  skins  which  are 
not  at  all  adequate  vessels  for  the  fuller  understanding  and 
expression  of  the  truth.  The  pupil  who  has  been  promoted 
to  be  a  student  discards  the  letter,  but  retains  the  spirit 
of  truth.  To  him  these  "traditions  of  the  elders"  are  in- 
teresting relics,  but  the  "I  say  unto  you"  of  the  Eternal 
Christ  speaking  within,  is  his  stay  and  authority. 


[148] 


ILLUSTRIOUS  GRADUATES 

FROM  the  time  when  this  school  was  instituted,  in 
that  hour  when  God  said,  "Let  us  make  man  in  our 
own  image,"  there  have  been  illustrious  ones  who 
have  stood  head  and  shoulders  above  their  fellows  in  their 
attainments,  who  have  been  the  landmarks,  the  guides 
and  the  saviours  of  men,   calling  them  upward   to   the 
walks  of  self-mastery  and  the  positions  of  supreme  influ- 
ence.   Up  toward  the  level  of  these  epochal  men  the  vast 
masses  have  been  inspired  to  strive  for  similar  attainment. 
God  has  had  his  honor  men  in  all  generations.     There 
was  Enoch  who  learned  to  walk  with  God,  keeping  step 
with  all  the  divine  requirements,  whether  walking  was 
good  or  bad,  and  one  day  walked  off  the  edge  of  the 
material  world  of  things  into  the  Realm  of  Reality. 

Another  of  these  was  Abraham,  who  heard  within 
himself  a  Divine  Voice  calling  him  out,  and  he  followed, 
"not  knowing  whither  he  went."  In  his  career  he  at  one 
time  thought  nothing  of  lying  to  Abimilech,  and  there 
were  some  things  in  the  episode  about  Hagar  that  were  not 
to  his  credit,  but  he  kept  on  in  the  great  school  until  he 
graduated,  and  came  to  talk  with  God,  as  a  man  talks 
with  his  friend.  He  was  not  only  blessed,  but  he  was 
made  a  blessing,  and  was  called  the  "father  of  the 
faithful." 

There  was  Jacob,  who  was  by  name  and   nature  a 

[1491 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

deceiver  and  a  supplanter,  when  he  entered  the  school. 
He  did  things  that  would  have  sent  him  to  State's  prison 
had  he  lived  in  this  day,  yet  the  ceaseless  fall  of  the 
tribulum  and  the  constructive  processes  of  the  Universal 
Servitor  eventually  made  him  a  "prince  with  God." 

Elisha,  who  seems  to  have  had  some  irascible  streak  of 
temper  so  that  he  could  not  endure  to  be  teased  by  chil- 
dren on  account  of  his  bald  head,  kept  on  at  school,  fol- 
lowing the  ceaseless  quest,  "Where  is  the  God  of  Elijah?" 
until  the  question  was  answered,  and  from  thence  he 
found  himself  clothed  with  mastery.  His  touch  vibrated 
with  health,  his  breath  was  charged  with  healing  vapor, 
his  words  could  heal  the  virus  in  the  poisoned  pottage, 
and  his  very  bones  were  charged  with  life-giving  power. 

Job  seems  to  have  had  less  of  the  so-called  "out  broken" 
things  in  his  make-up,  yet  trouble  multiplied  for  him,  and 
when  his  troubles  came  thick  and  fast,  he  walked  along 
the  brink  of  blasphemy,  and  vowed  his  integrity  in  spite 
of  trouble.  Job's  real  trouble  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
that  he  was  in  any  conscious  sense  a  sinner,  but  he  was  so 
well  situated  that  he  had  unconsciously  violated  the  law  of 
growth,  so  there  came  along  an  April,  '06,  earthquake 
that  shook  down  his  surroundings,  pulled  up  the  stakes 
of  his  tents,  smashed  his  business,  scattered  his  family, 
knocked  the  bottom  out  of  his  securities,  and  enlarged  the 
borders  of  his  life.  He  graduated  as  God's  honor  man  in 
the  College  of  Patience. 

David  did  some  very  naughty  things  when  he  was 
going  to  school,  and  had  a  very  serious  heart-to-heart 

[150] 


ILLUSTRIOUS  GRADUATES 

interview  with  his  teacher,  but  after  a  prolonged  season 
of  "lickin'  an'  learnin',"  he  became  the  voice  of  the  divine 
harmonies — the  sweet  singer  of  Israel. 

Isaiah,  of  seraphic  vision,  took  a  thorough  course  in 
the  school  of  trouble  which  was  at  one  time  as  uncom- 
fortable as  a  hot  coal  from  off  the  altar  to  heal  his  lips  of 
the  bad  habit  of  telling  naughty  stories,  until  at  last  he 
spoke  in  exalted  and  inspired  phrase. 

St.  Paul  took  the  full  course.  A  few  of  his  troubles 
are  enumerated,  and  they  were  enough  for  a  dozen  ordi- 
nary men.  At  the  place  where  his  marital  experiences 
should  have  been  mentioned  there  is  an  eloquent  silence. 
In  fact,  Paul  reacted  to  trouble  so  naturally  that  he 
rejoiced  in  it,  and  was  comfortable  only  when  things 
were  coming  thick  and  fast,  and  he  found  trouble  to  be 
an  emancipator.  Just  why  he  failed  to  get  rid  of  that 
mysterious  "thorn  in  the  flesh,"  we  probably  shall  not 
know,  but  he  recognized  that  it  was  "a  messenger  of  the 
Satan" — whoever  he  was.  He  talked  with  God,  could 
boast  of  "visions  and  revelations  of  the  Lord,"  could  heal 
the  sick,  and  raise  the  dead,  but  he  could  not  shake  that 
thorn.  What  a  pity  he  did  not  live  in  this  day  to  learn 
what  a  stupendous  error  he  was  laboring  under;  that  his 
thorn  in  the  flesh  had  "neither  intelligence  nor  sense," 
but  was  an  "error  of  the  mortal  mind,"  and  it  is  just 
possible  that  a  change  of  his  thought  in  regard  to  the 
whole  ministry  of  trouble  would  at  least  have  taken  the 
point  off  the  thorn.  He  had  a  remarkable  graduation,  in 
that  he  could  rejoice  in  tribulation,  and  that  he  could  go 

[151] 


THE  PROSPECTUS  OF  LIFE 

forth  to  give  his  message  and  his  ministry  without  any 
guarantee  except  that  he  would  be  delivered  from  the 
people  whom  he  served.  What  a  world  of  hidden  irony 
there  was  in  that  promise !  He  was  afraid  of  neither  pain 
nor  trouble,  and  shrank  not  from  either  death  or  dying. 
Illustrious  honor  man  of  the  University  of  Hard  Knocks, 
rest  thy  soul  in  paradise ! 

Chief  of  all  the  honor  men  was  the  Man  of  Nazareth, 
Whom  we  call  the  Master,  "Who  learned  obedience  by 
the  things  which  He  suffered,  and  was  made  perfect." 
That  Life  which  began  amid  the  gossip  of  neighbors, 
came  into  the  world  in  a  manger,  and  went  out  on  the 
point  of  a  spear,  summed  up  the  whole  volume  of  human 
trouble  in  one  brief  life,  and  set  the  way  for  everlasting 
ages  by  which  each  soul  may  make  himself  of  no  reputa- 
tion, and  yet  be  highly  exalted  by  the  very  things  he 
suffers,  for  doubtless  nothing  can  so  fully  reconcile  the 
ways  of  God  unto  men,  and  so  reconcile  men  unto  God, 
as  for  one  to  so  fully  obey  all  the  laws  of  the  Father,  even 
unto  death,  in  obedience  to  the  categorical  imperative, 
that  He  became  the  very  Voice  of  God  to  men  in  trouble 
— the  Saviour  of  the  world.  He  did  not  suffer  for  us, 
nor  in  our  stead,  nor  to  reconcile  God  to  us,  but  He  did 
enter  fully  into  all  the  experiences  of  a  normal  human 
life,  and  showed  us  the  way  to  bear  trouble  and  to  triumph 
over  it,  and  so  to  reach  self-mastery.  All  hail  the  Match- 
less Name — forever  enshrined  in  earth  and  in  heaven — 
JESUS  CHRIST. 

Other  illustrious  honor  men  there  have  been  without 

[152] 


ILLUSTRIOUS  GRADUATES 

number,  but  they  are  so  numerous  that  they  are  all  in- 
cluded in  that  white-robed  company,  who  are  going  "up 
through  great  tribulation,"  and  whose  number  is  ever 
increasing.  Among  them  are  the  myriads  who  have  died 
in  war  at  the  word  of  a  ruler,  who  decreed  their  death 
by  "divine  right."  There  are  the  martyrs  to  scientific 
experiment  who  have  "suffered  many  things  of  many 
physicians."  There  are  the  heroic  legions  who  have  spent 
their  last  breath  denying  the  reality  of  pain  or  disease,  or 
even  death  itself.  There  are  the  countless  martyrs  of 
scolding  partners,  who  have  submitted  to  be  slowly  nagged 
to  death,  rather  than  to  defy  tradition,  and  sever  the  bonds 
imposed  by  legal  and  ecclesiastical  pronouncement.  And 
there  are  the  myriads  of  real  martyrs  to  the  mills  and 
sweatshops,  where  life  has  been  robbed  of  every  sweet 
thing  and  wrung  dry  of  every  fond  hope,  that  the  divi- 
dends of  the  trusts  may  be  swelled.  These  have  all  been 
promoted,  or  will  be. 

Trouble  lasts  only  so  long  as  it  is  needed  to  emancipate 
us.  When  we  have  moved  up  to  freedom  that  special 
form  of  trouble  departs  and — something  else  comes  along. 
It  is  one  thing  right  after  the  other.  At  first  it  seems  like 
a  tragedy,  and  then  it  becomes  ridiculous,  and  then  our 
philosophy  gets  adjusted,  and  we  rejoice  that  "tribulation 
worketh  patience,  and  patience  experience,  and  experi- 
ence hope." 


[153] 


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